Extras - The Anomaly
by fjkemp
Summary: Khan helps Beth explore her newfound sexuality as both of them try to figure out how being together could possibly work. (M-rated, Ch. 4-9). Other extras include Slave Auction on Golana (Ch. 1-3, alternate chapters - disturbing, M-rated). These are bonus scenes and updates for The Anomaly, a Khan/Spock/OFC fanfiction.
1. Slave Auction (Alternate Chapter 48)

**These 3 chapters (48-50) were added to The Anomaly on 10/1/2013, so they might be a repeat for you.**

**Warning: very mature content, some disturbing sexual situations and graphic descriptions. Please skip to chapter 50 if you are uncomfortable reading about women being sexually abused.**

******This chapter is basically completely different from the original version - let's just say I got inspired :) **

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**Chapter 48**

She dreamed of Khan again. They were together in the cave on Centula. She was standing beside him, watching him try to pry a crystal out of the rock wall. He did it finally with his bare hands and turned around to hand it to her. His fingernails were broken and his skin was torn and bloody, but he looked so satisfied that Beth just took the crystal and smiled.

"Thank you," she said, and Khan opened his mouth to speak, but she could already feel herself pulling away. She tried to fight it, tried to keep herself calm and shut out the world, but in the next moment he was gone and Beth was awake.

Even before she opened her eyes she knew she was somewhere she'd never been before. She was laying on a hard bed in a dingy apartment, but it was not her hard bed, and it was not her dingy apartment. Daylight streamed in through grimy windows. She sat up and her head throbbed with pain that echoed all the way down to her tailbone.

"How do you feel?"

Beth turned her head quickly toward the woman's voice and instantly regretted it. "Who's there?" she asked, squeezing her eyes shut in an effort to block out the pain.

"They sent us to get you ready," the woman said. "Then they want to see you."

Covering her eyes with her right hand, Beth peered through her fingers at the woman sitting in a chair across the room. She was dark-haired and younger - maybe in her mid-twenties - heavily made-up with deep red lips and smoky eyes. Her hair was draped over her shoulder in an ornate braid decorated with red ribbons. She was wearing a simple white robe tied in the front but her legs were clad in sheer red stockings and red high heels.

The woman held out a plastic bag to Beth. "Take your clothes off and put them in here."

There were two large, tattooed men standing behind the woman. Beth thought she recognized them from her building. Was she in her building, in the den of prostitution that she'd always suspected existed upstairs? The last thing she could remember was being out on the street behind the Citadel.

She slowly slid to the edge of the bed and put her bare feet on the cold concrete floor. "I want to go home," she said wearily.

The woman did not respond for a while. Beth looked at her, and then the two men. One of the men was smirking, but the woman looked sorry for Beth. "Take your clothes off and put them in the bag," she repeated. "Either you do it yourself or Mozzie will do it for you."

"Mozzie?" Beth asked, confused.

The woman pointed to the smirking man over her shoulder. "And trust me, you don't want that." She threw the bag onto the bed beside Beth.

Beth stared at it. "I'm not getting undressed," she said. "Where am I? Why am I here?"

The woman was obviously uncomfortable, but disguised it with a severe tone. "It's not my job to explain everything to you. Just take off your clothes or we'll both be in trouble."

"In trouble with who?"

The man called Mozzie stepped forward, leering at Beth. She saw him pull out a knife with his right hand, squeezing his left into a fist.

"Okay, I'll do it," she said quickly, holding up a hand. She picked up the bag to prove she meant it and stood shakily, turning around. Facing away from her audience she pulled her old black turtleneck over her head and put it in the bag. "Do you have another robe at least?" she asked.

"They'll dress you afterwards," the woman said.

"Afterwards? After what?"

"Keep going," one of the men warned and Beth undid her trousers, pushing them down and kicking them off her feet. It was warm in the room but she was suddenly shivering.

"You have to take everything off," the woman told her. Beth guessed her voice got more and more harsh the worse she felt, but Beth didn't care how upset the woman was.

"I will," Beth snapped, feeling humiliated as she unhooked her bra and worked the straps down her arms, reluctantly letting it fall to the floor. "Please tell me what's going on," she begged, telling herself over and over again that she was not going to cry. She held her breath as she took off her underpants, half expecting to see them soaked in blood after her earlier fall down the stairs. But they were clean - it was a miracle she hadn't miscarried the babies - they were either strong like their father or stubborn like their mother - either way they were in as much danger as Beth at that moment.

When she was completely naked she stayed facing away from the others while the woman picked up the rest of her clothes and put them in the plastic bag.

"Thank you," the woman said. "Now, follow me."

Beth covered herself as best she could with her hands and arms but said nothing as she followed the woman out of the apartment and into the corridor. It looked just like the corridor outside her studio apartment and there was a man leaning against one of the walls that Beth also recognized. He looked up at her with interest as she walked past, but he didn't seem at all surprised to see a terrified, naked woman in the hallway. She felt like she was back at Dr. Neel's medical outpost, being escorted from one torture chamber to the next by armed guards. At least back then they'd let her wear a robe.

"In here," the woman said, opening a door and leading Beth inside. It was the size of another studio apartment, but the whole flat had been tiled over and converted into a sonic shower block. "Clean yourself," the woman said. She held out a purple bottle of body oil. "Then cover yourself in this."

Beth looked pleadingly at the woman, who refused to meet her eyes. "I can't help you," the woman finally said, thrusting the bottle at Beth until she took it.

"I can," Mozzie laughed, grabbing the front of his pants. The other man laughed as well and Beth couldn't hold her tears back any more. She gasped loudly, turning away to hide her face. She went to the wall and pushed the button to turn on the shower. Soon she was surrounded by ionized steam and was grateful for the temporary concealment as she bawled against the cold tiled wall. What had happened? She had been so close to escaping, to returning to Earth.

After ten minutes or so the shower timed out and Beth grudgingly rubbed the oil into her skin.

"Rub it everywhere," the woman told her. "You'll be better off." She didn't have to explain what she meant and Beth's hand was shaking as she applied the oil between her legs.

"Oh, for God's sake," the woman said, her firmness wavering. She approached Beth, taking off her own robe. Underneath she had on a red, low-cut bustier that pushed up her small breasts and only half-concealed her nipples. She had nothing on the bottom and was completely hairless on her mound. Beth stared at it as the woman draped her robe over Beth's shoulders and pulled her arms through the sleeves. "You'd better toughen up, and quick," she told Beth quietly. It was not a threat; she was giving her advice.

The woman led the way back down the corridor, striding confidently despite her near-nakedness. Beth shuffled in her bare feet, not really comforted by the robe. If anything it made her more nervous because she knew she would probably have to take it off again soon.

They reached a door guarded by two more men. The men ignored Beth and ogled at the other woman's crotch. "You joining the party, Layla?" one of them asked as she knocked on the door. "Is anyone invited?"

"You couldn't afford me," she told the man witheringly. "I should charge you just for looking."

Layla pushed the door open and held it for Beth. Mozzie and their other escort didn't follow them into the room. As soon as they were inside Beth realized why. The room was already full of beefy guards. She recognized more of them, again confirming that she had somehow ended up back in her own apartment building. Some of the men were better dressed, in dark suits like the guards in the Citadel casino.

In the middle of the men was a young blonde woman, her shirt off, kneeling in front of a short, well-dressed man. He was older - maybe fifty - and didn't seem to belong there among the younger, thuggish gangsters, but he definitely seemed to feel at home with a blonde between his legs. Leon was sitting on a chair against the wall and Beth was too scared to be pleased that his hand and leg were still bandaged and bleeding where she'd stabbed him. He looked up at her and his smile was wicked as he stood and limped towards her.

"Ah, finally," he said, stopping in front of her. "Armie, this is the one I told you about."

He was talking to the older man, who suddenly lost interest in the young blonde and pushed her aside, stepping over her to approach Beth.

"So you're the one who stole from me."

Beth looked him in the eye as hard as she could, and as he made a big show of raising his hand to strike her she drew back her fist and punched him first in the jaw. It was not hard a hard punch at all but he stepped back, more in surprise than pain. A second later he lunged forward and hit her hard across the face. She cried out, clutching her temples as her already aching head exploded in agony. Armie looked satisfied with her reaction and rather than hit her again he pulled on the cord of her robe.

"Let's see what was worth twenty-thousand credits," he said, exposing her before she realized what was happening. He looked disappointed and let her snatch the robe shut again. "She's nothing special."

"That's what I thought," Leon agreed. "But she grows on you."

"And Haal confirmed the amount?"

"Yes, he was very taken with her. He even offered to pay us what she owed."

"Did he?" Armie mused. "That's not like him at all." He turned to Beth. "Show me again," he ordered.

"Fuck you," she spat and one of the guards came up behind her, roughly yanking the robe off her shoulders. Armie smiled, pleased by her resistance. The same guard held Beth's arms as the man turned her face into the light and felt her breasts, weighing them and squeezing them like he was evaluating a prize animal. She didn't struggle - it was useless and he would enjoy it too much. Then his hand went between her legs and he fingered her roughly. Beth heard a growl emanate from the back of her own throat as she bared her teeth at him. He again seemed surprised - this was a man used to submissive women.

"You feel very nice," he told her intimately, like it was foreplay, like she should be thrilled by his assessment. "But I wouldn't pay twenty thousand for you."

"Well technically Haal didn't _pay_ twenty thousand," Leon admitted as the man removed his fingers and smelled them and then wiped them on someone else's shirt.

"What do you mean?"

"He paid her with services worth twenty grand. He created a new identity for her."

"I see," Armie said, and then raised his eyebrows. He smiled slowly. "So this woman has a brand new identity?"

"That's right."

Beth didn't like the way he was smiling at her. "So she's untraceable?" he asked.

Leon shrugged. "I guess so. She's on the run from Starfleet so no one knows she's here."

"Yes they do," Beth lied.

"Well then I think I know a quick way to get our money," the man said excitedly, smelling his fingers again. He stared at them, rubbing them together.

"Yes?" Leon prompted him, waking him from his reverie.

The man looked at him, then smiled as he remembered his train of thought. "Contact the usual buyers, Leon. We're going to have an auction."

"What auction...?" Beth started to ask but Layla gasped by her side, and that small and frightened sound shook Beth more than any other answer she could have gotten.

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**Hope this is not too dark! Please let me know what you think. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	2. Slave Auction (Alternate Chapter 49)

**These 3 chapters (48-50) were added to The Anomaly on 10/1/2013, so they might be a repeat for you.**

**Warning: very mature content, some disturbing sexual situations and graphic descriptions. Please skip to chapter 50 if you are uncomfortable reading about women being sexually abused.**

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**Chapter 49**

The building looked like any other run-down slum on the edge of Asek, except for the numerous limousines hovering around its front door. Khan approached the building on foot, his head down, a large bag slung over his right shoulder. It held everything he owned. He'd had to bring it with him because by the time he was done with Leon and whoever else got in his way, Khan would be on the run from every authority and organized criminal on Golana.

He almost doubled back when he saw all the people inside the foyer. There was a line of men - males of many species - being processed at some sort of makeshift security checkpoint beside the elevators. Large thugs with tattoos up their necks were rifling through bags and scanning everyone with handheld ID readers. To Khan's surprise almost everyone surrendered multiple weapons and no one seemed to question why they were all so heavily armed. He joined the end of the line, knowing he probably had more weapons to surrender than anyone there, but also less need of them.

By listening to the others talking in line, he was able to glean that they were all there for some sort of black market auction, and knowing the sort of person he had come to find, torture and kill, Khan had a good idea what sort of merchandise would be going under the hammer.

"Hand," the first thug grunted when Khan reached the front of the line.

Khan complied, putting his hand on the scanner. He knew it would find no trace of him ever existing, and he didn't bother acting surprised when the scanner beeped and came up blank.

"That's a good trick," the thug said, looking at Khan curiously.

"I'm good at lots of tricks," Khan said, producing a chip worth fifty thousand credits from his pocket.

The man raised an eyebrow at Khan, scar tissue stretching across his left temple. "I've seen better."

Unfazed, Khan produced another chip worth a hundred. The man took both of them and put them in his pocket and laughed in Khan's face. "Thanks for the magic show, but I'm still not letting you in." He looked past Khan at the next man in line. "Hand."

Khan narrowed his eyes, the only sign of his mounting frustration. He started to slowly unzip the bag he was carrying. He'd hoped to at least have Leon's head in his hands before the real violence started.

Suddenly the elevator doors opened and two men in dark suits approached Khan. "He's with us," one of the men said to the thug with the scanner, and reached for Khan's bag.

Khan let him take it, looking at the man's face. He'd never seen him before. He looked like casino security and Khan knew that after his actions at the Citadel that morning a casino security guard had no reason to help him, but if he was going to get Khan past the security check point and one step closer to Beth, he would save any questions for later.

His bag was searched and all of his phasers and charges and knives were tagged and dumped in a bin along with the others. "Big spender," commented the thug searching his bag. Apart from his weapons and a sleek new PADD the rest of the bag was completely full of credit chips, worth more than forty million. When the search was over Khan laid his PADD on top of the chips and zipped the bag shut.

He kept expecting the two casino guards to lead him into a room and try to stun him or rough him up, but they took him straight up in the stinking elevator and escorted him to a doorway where buyers were milling around, drinking and laughing like old friends.

There were women in the hallway as well, in various stages of undress, in various stages of being mauled by the men, and pretending to enjoy it with various degrees of success.

"I'm looking for Leon," Khan said to a few of the men whose mouths weren't otherwise occupied.

"He'll be inside soon," one man told him, pointing to the open door. Khan walked around the man and into the apartment.

It was larger than Khan expected, and beautifully appointed with cream walls and marble floors. Blackout curtains hung over the windows and the room was lit with an almost apricot-colored tinge by a series of overhead lamps. Cheap stacking chairs had been lined up in rows in the middle of the room and they all faced a simple wooden table at the front.

Khan sat down in one of the chairs at the back and stared at the table. It had scratches and dents worn into the top of its legs and he knew those marks were from many sets of restraints being fastened to the table over a number of months or years. He tried not to imagine what went on at these gatherings once the restraints were secured. He focused on finding Beth. She felt closer than ever, and the sooner he got his hands on Leon the sooner he would know where she was.

After a few minutes the other men started filing into the room, and Khan could easily tell which were the buyers - most of them were older and they all seemed very at ease with the situation, whereas their bodyguards shared a nervous, aggressive energy that seemed to multiply as more and more people filled the room.

Khan also felt himself becoming anxious. There were too many of them - fourteen buyers and more than thirty minders. Even if none of them were armed it would take a long time to overcome them all.

The lights in the room flashed off and on and everyone fell silent. A door at the front opened and a man entered. A few buyers applauded and the man smiled gregariously, waving with both hands. His lips were pulled tightly over his teeth and Khan saw other signs of expensive cosmetic surgery that made him look ageless rather than young, and also slightly inhuman.

"Thank you, gentlemen," he said silkily. "I see a few new faces in the room, so I will introduce myself, although I'm told I need no introduction." He waited, perhaps for laughter, which did not come. "My name is Armie Coghlan. Yes, _that_ Armie Coghlan. Thank you for joining us at such late notice. As you know it is becoming more and more difficult for us to hold these auctions since the introduction of the Federation's personal identity program. Not only are there fewer girls on the market, it has become more difficult to hide these auctions from the authorities..."

"You mean your brothers!" a rotund man shouted, and others laughed. The master of ceremonies lost his smile for a split second, looking at the man who'd shouted with unexpected violence. He was clearly not a man to be mocked.

"... So it has become more and more important for us to hold these auctions with urgency and stealth, and unfortunately in less opulent surroundings than you might be used to. But I hope the girls have been keeping you entertained."

There was another round of applause.

"And please put your hands together for Leon, who many of you know, for finding us the lovely creature we're able to offer you today."

Khan stood at the mention of Leon's name, and with overwhelming dread he watched as the door opened again and a disgusting specimen of a man led Beth into the room.

It was all he could do not to shout to her over the appreciative applause. Guards at the front were already looking at him with too much interest, their hands hovering at their hips. Khan forced himself to sit down, chiding himself for being so obvious. At least now he knew who was armed.

Beth looked absolutely terrified standing up at the front of the room. They had dressed her perfectly for a room of perverts; she wore a tight, white shirt dress that stretched across her curves, straining at the buttons. It was incredibly sexy, but also innocent and real, like Beth herself. Her hair was more golden than Khan remembered and fell in a loose braid over her shoulder. She had on a pair of high-heeled sandals and was not wearing any makeup except for faded, smeared pink lipstick that looked like it had been rubbed off during some earlier form of abuse. The thought that someone had already touched her drove Khan crazy. He wanted to kill every man in the room just for looking at her, and he wanted to take Leon to another location - somewhere remote and quiet where he could hurt him properly...

Leon led Beth to stand in front of the table and she bumped into its corner, yelping in surprise and pain. Khan saw that her eyes were looking around wildly, not focusing on anything. At first he thought they had drugged her, which would have been almost merciful in the circumstances, but she was trembling too much, she was too acutely aware of what was happening to her. No, they had done something to temporarily blind her, either to make her defenseless so she couldn't fight or escape, or to protect the anonymity of the men in the room.

"Now, this beautiful lady's name is Beth," Armie Coghlan said, touching her arm and making her jump. Khan clenched the side of his chair, feeling the wood splinter in his hands. "Beth is a human, actually born on Earth."

There was an impressed murmur around the room. Khan gathered it was rare to get an actual free-range human at one of these auctions. It would likely raise her value, but Khan had money. He had more credits right there in his bag than probably all of these men put together. Maybe he could just buy Beth and walk out with her. If it could be that simple he would even let Leon live... for a while longer.

"Beth is not a virgin," Armie continued. "I know some of you prefer that, but I can assure you her cunt feels very nice. I will vouch for that personally."

Beth cringed, shying away from Armie and Khan saw little red bubbles pop in front of his eyes. This was another dead man. Khan tried to soothe his fury with fantasies of forcing Leon and Armie to eat each other's body parts in front of the audience.

"But Beth is very special. As you know, we perform regular physicals on our girls and Beth is no different. I think this is a first for one of our auctions; Beth is two months pregnant, with twins."

Khan made an involuntary noise that was luckily drowned out by exclamations from the other buyers. Some were excited by the news and others were angry. Khan was in shock. He had not let himself believe his unborn children were still safe after everything their mother had been through. How was it possible that she had not just survived, she had managed to protect the babies as well? Khan had never been more admiring of another person, nor more in love with Beth, nor more frightened for her safety. He began looking at everyone in the room anew, assessing their threat and competence in a fight. Who could he use as a human shield? How far could he throw them, and with how much force? Every way he calculated it, there were just too many.

Armie was continuing. "Yes, yes, I know it's not ideal for those who want her for breeding, but at least it proves she's fertile. And in some ways you could look at it as three for the price of one."

Some of the men nodded their agreement and Khan made note of each one of them. His list of people to torture to death was getting long.

"And as most of you know, since Beth is not a virgin, we get to add the bonus auction to our proceedings today." Armie said this with a flourish, producing a set of restraints from his pocket. There was excited murmuring and Khan felt all the air rush out of his lungs. He looked at the door at the front, which was still open. Once he started fighting it would take them three seconds to clear Beth out of the room, maybe twelve seconds if she was tied to the table. He could not make it to her in that time, not through thirty trained fighters all trying to protect their bosses.

Armie was already fastening the restraints around Beth's wrists. She didn't struggle. Khan knew that she had learned the hard way that struggling just made things worse.

As he continued talking Armie undid every button on the front of Beth's dress. "Now for the rules. One lucky man will get to violate this lovely creature before she is sold today. You would normally have to wear protection, but since you've all been screened and so has Beth, and since she's already pregnant, we can forgo that this time. You can do whatever you like, you _are_ allowed to hurt her, but do not mark her skin unless you're prepared to pay damages to her owner at the end of the auction."

"Yeah, Clay," someone said down the front, eliciting more laughter.

Beth stared forward with her unseeing eyes, as brave as anyone could be, but her whole body shook with fear as Armie opened the front of her dress and pulled it down her arms. There was a moment of silence as everyone appreciated her naked breasts and soft, pale body clad only in a disingenuously sweet pair of pink lace panties. Even Khan, almost apoplectic with fear and rage, had to swallow his arousal.

"Shall we start the bidding at one thousand?" Armie suggested and Khan had to force himself not to leap out of his chair.

"One," a man down the front said. It was the same heavyset man that had mocked Armie about his brothers.

"One-five," another man said.

"Two," said a third.

The bidding continued until it reached five thousand credits. The man with the winning bid was the first bidder at the front of the room.

Khan waited a second before raising his hand. "Six."

The men turned in their seats to look at Khan, but he was concentrating on Beth. She had gasped when he'd spoken. He knew she had recognized his voice. She tried to clamp a hand over her mouth, but her arm was pulled back to her side by Leon. She did not say Khan's name and he was so proud of her self-control. Even in as much shock and stress as she was experiencing, she knew enough to be careful. But she could not control her emotions as she broke down in tears.

Her crying seemed to stimulate another spate of bidding, confirming Khan's belief that these men really were the scum of the universe. It settled again at nine thousand credits. "Ten," Khan said.

"Eleven," countered the man down the front.

"Twelve."

The two of them continued up to Khan's bid of twenty thousand credits.

"Geez, let him have it, Clay," someone else finally yelled out. "I'm starting to go soft."

"No one wants to see your fat ass up there anyway," another man added. "I might actually enjoy watching the new guy."

Clay looked like he might argue but threw up his hands.

"The highest bid is twenty thousand," Armie said, sounding surprised. "Do we have anything higher than twenty thousand?" He looked around the room and no one volunteered. "Sold, to the determined gentleman in the back row."

Everyone clapped and Khan picked up his bag and took out a chip worth twenty grand. It wouldn't be long now. Once he reached Beth he could get her out of the room. He would find a way out of the building. Armie was waving him forward, smiling broadly with his thin, tight lips. "Congratulations," he said as Khan handed him the chip. "And now a word of warning, since you're new. We had an incident last year where a man killed the girl. I believe it was an accident, but he did make an awful mess and it proved very costly, so now we have armed guards monitoring the proceedings. Their phasers are _not_ set to stun," he said pointedly.

Khan's heart sank as he saw half a dozen guards pull out phasers and point them in his direction. If they shot at him and hit Beth she would die on the spot.

Beth had stopped crying and he went to her, glaring at Leon until he backed away. Khan took her left hand and held it for a second, trying to communicate two months worth of heartache in that single touch. He started to take the restraint off her wrist.

Armie stepped forward. "No, you have to leave them on. You have to tie her up. Face up, face down, whichever you prefer. It's tradition."

"I forfeit my turn," Khan said.

"What?!" Armie spluttered. "But you paid."

"Yes, and I am going to buy this woman today." It was the only way. He would have to see the auction through to the end. "I don't want anyone else soiling my property but I'm not going to put on an exhibition for you. Either way, you have your money."

"I don't do it for the money!" Armie shouted, and he seemed to do a double take, like it was the first time he'd admitted the truth to anyone, including himself. He recovered quickly. "Tradition is very important in my family. If you won't fuck her then the next highest bidder will. Clay..."

"No," Khan said quickly. He realized he was still holding Beth's hand and she was trying to pull it free. He released it and she fumbled with the restraint on her left wrist, buckling it up again.

"No," Khan said again, this time to her.

"What do you know, I think she likes you," Armie said and Khan heard more than a trace of jealousy in his voice.

Khan stood close to Beth, whispering in her ear. "I won't do that to you."

"You have to." Beth whispered back.

Khan knew she was right, knew she was trying to make it easier on both of them, but she was still shaking. He looked around at the men watching, suddenly glad she could not see.

"I'm not tying her up," Khan said fiercely, putting an arm around Beth's shoulder and guiding her to the table. After leaving her bound in the cave on Centula and seeing how she'd hurt herself to get free, Khan had vowed he would never do that to her again.

He stood behind her, close enough that she could feel him, but not pushing up against her. Not yet. He wanted her to get used to his presence while she was so vulnerable. He dropped his head so it rested on her shoulder. "Just listen to the sound of my voice," he said softly, into her ear. It was not quite a whisper; he wanted her to hear the strength and tenderness of his deep baritone. "It's just the two of us, do you understand?"

She nodded and he wrapped his arms around her and held her. She gripped his wrists with her hands, her fingers digging into his skin. Her whole body shook as she tried not to cry. Khan felt her humiliation and her anguish and he just held her, rocking her slowly, trying not to notice how unbelievably soft and enticing she was even through his clothes.

"Good girl," he said finally. "Now take some deep breaths." He closed his eyes as her chest rose and fell, and listened to her breathing. For so long he thought he'd never hear that sound again. "Good girl," he repeated soothingly, untying her hair and loosening the braid with his fingers. He piled it over one side of her head, hiding her face from their audience.

"Now I'm going to lean you forward. Not too far, just put your hands on the table. Try to relax." He bent her over, keeping his torso in contact with her back the whole time. He positioned her hands flat on the table and left his hands over the top of hers. "There you go," he said gently, feeling the warmth of her, feeling himself get erect from the sheer presence of her against him. "You're doing so well," he said, kissing her ear and feeling her shiver.

"Now I'm going to take my pants down, Beth. I'm sorry but I'm already hard. _You_ make me hard, not this situation. Do you understand? I hate this, but I love you. Do you understand?" he asked desperately. He wasn't sure if he was trying to convince her or himself. He didn't want to rape her and he didn't like these men watching them, but something dark and animalistic in Khan _did_ like that she was so helpless, _did_ like the way she was pinned beneath him.

But she nodded, trusting him, and he stood up for a moment to unfasten his pants and ease them down over his painfully erect penis. He leaned forward over her and she gasped when she felt his erection press between her buttocks. With her high heels she was exactly the right height for him to just push it inside her. Khan tried not to be pleased about that, tried not to anticipate how good she was going to feel around him.

"I won't take your pants down," he told her. He didn't want these men to see any more of her than they already had. He reached in front of her with his left hand and pulled her panties to the side. Even from that small amount of contact he could tell so much. They had removed the hair from her sex and Khan felt her juices spreading unhindered over the outer lips. It felt so different from his memories of touching her - he'd loved her pubic hair and had spent many happy moments stroking her soft brown fur. This baldness was aggressively erotic - there was nothing between him and her skin as his fingers grazed across her wet mound. He didn't let them linger but he still felt her push herself against his hand.

"Don't," he said, perhaps too sternly. He didn't want these men to think she might be aroused. She hung her head, humiliated, and Khan kissed the back of her neck. "I'm going to enter you now," he said. "Are you ready?"

She hesitated and then nodded her assent. Khan took his penis in his hand and ran it up between the back of her legs, pushing it against the slippery outer lips.

As he slid slowly into her he leaned forwards, his body covering hers, his left hand beside hers on the table, his right arm across her chest to conceal her breasts. His breath shuddered out of him - he could feel the tension deep within her and her trembling made her whole body vibrate against him and around his cock. The animal inside him responded to the sensation by thrusting himself the rest of the way inside her. She was so warm and tight around his shaft, she smelled strongly of fear but also arousal. The combination made him want to flatten her against the table and fuck her as hard as he could...

Khan gasped when he realized he was squeezing Beth's breast in his hand. No. He would not lose control now. He looked up, forcing himself to remember where he was.

Armie was standing in front of him, on the other side of the table. He'd come closer without Khan realizing. He was staring with glazed eyes, holding the fingers of his right hand under his nose. Khan snarled at him, making Beth whimper. Armie took the hint when he saw the possessive hatred in Khan's eyes, and took a few steps back.

Khan returned his attention to Beth, kissing her ear. "I love you," he said to her, hooking his left thumb around her little finger on the table. "No one else is ever going to touch you again."

He began to move inside her with long, deep thrusts to maximize his stimulation. Now that he was past the point of no return he wanted to climax as quickly as possible. Beth swayed against his slow thrusts, even started pushing herself back to meet them. She was so wet. Was it possible that there was also an animal inside of her that liked him possessing her so completely? The thought made Khan groan, and he was too far gone to regret the admission of his own depravity.

* * *

Beth was overcome by incredibly conflicted emotions and sensations, but mostly there was relief. He was alive. Somehow he was alive and he had found her and he was going to rescue her. He was hard and inside her, his strength wrapped around her and coursing through her.

She felt him climax as he held his breath and his whole body jerked. They stayed like that for a minute, maybe an hour, and for that time nothing else mattered.

Then he pulled himself out of her and she returned to the world of darkness and fear. With her temporary blindness she felt like there could be a thousand people looking at her and she could hear every one of them breathing hard. Khan turned her around to face him and pulled her against his chest, holding her tight, but even he couldn't block out reality.

"That was fucking beautiful," someone said, and there were murmurs of agreement.

Beth felt the tears burning her eyes and she fought them unsuccessfully. Khan stroked the back of her head, shushing her gently.

"Look at that," a third man said. "I almost hate to break them up."

"Forget that, did you see how wet his dick got? She must be dripping."

"Fuck," someone groaned.

"Can we get on with it?" Khan barked, not letting her go. "Start the bidding."

There was a long silence as Beth clung to him, listening to his heart beating steadily in his chest.

"No."

Khan's muscles tensed under her hands. His heart started beating almost twice as fast. He said nothing, but everyone else in the room erupted in confusion and anger.

"I'm sorry, gentlemen," Armie was saying over them. "But I have the right to change my mind."

More shouts of disagreement and displeasure.

"What a waste of time!"

Beth realized that Khan was trying to move her, to position her to stand behind him. She complied, letting him step around her as she kept her hands on his back. As long as she was touching him everything would be alright.

"I'm sorry," Armie repeated. "Let me make it up to you. I'll have the girls see to your needs, on the house."

"I came all the way from Madriel!"

"And I'll arrange for quarters for all of you at the Citadel," Armie offered. "The usual VIP package."

That seemed to mollify some of them.

"Now, if you'll wait in the hall, I'll have the girls brought back around."

Beth heard scraping chairs and shuffling feet and disgruntled mutterings as they left the room. Khan was standing completely still but Beth could feel the explosive energy radiating from him.

"Leon, get the girl," Armie said and a moment later the muscles in Khan's back flexed and Beth heard the sickening sound of bones crunching followed by a stifled scream and something heavy falling to the floor. She tried to grab the back of Khan's shirt but he lunged away from her. She reached out her hands for him and felt a frisson of energy close to her face as a phaser was fired in her direction. She ducked to the ground and heard more phaser fire. That was okay, she told herself. Khan couldn't be hurt by phasers.

Suddenly she heard a loud thud on the floor beside her and everything went quiet. Beth reached out a hand towards the spot on the floor where she'd heard the noise. Her fingers brushed against a sleeve and she knew by the feel of the material that it was him. Something was wrong. She crawled over to him, her hands feeling for his face.

"Khan," she said desperately, slapping his cheek and feeling his head roll limply to the side. "No, Khan."

Her fingers ran down the side of his neck and searched in vain for his pulse.

"Khan!" she shouted, shaking his shoulders. She put her head on his chest and his heart was completely still. "No," she whispered, pulling up on his shirt and laying her head against his bare skin. "No, no, no," she repeated, holding him tight and willing him to move. He had to be faking, but why would he fake with her?

She raised herself up, cursing that she could not see him. She felt along the middle of his chest and lay her hands over his heart and pumped up and down. He couldn't be dead. Not like this. He had survived the destruction of a planet. He could not just die.

Hands grabbed at Beth's shoulders and she screamed in fury, leaning over Khan and holding onto him tight. She would not leave him alone with these animals. She would rather die than leave him again.

* * *

**I was nervous about this chapter. It is such a change, and kind of an extreme side of Khan we're seeing. Is it totally creepy, or kind of creepy/hot? In my defense, I started writing this chapter with a totally different thing in mind. Sometimes Khan just does whatever he wants ;)**

**Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	3. Slave Auction (Alternate Chapter 50)

**These 3 chapters (48-50) were added to The Anomaly on 10/1/2013, so they might be a repeat for you.**

**Thanks to these folks (in alphabetical order) for taking the time to give feedback on these replacement chapters before they were added to this story: BigStraightCrush, CLTex, Emma, Guest, Mrs. Cumberbatch, rem, ****TheJewellersHand, ****WhitneyG, XxLadyVerlacxX**

* * *

**Chapter 50**

Khan awoke in agony. There was a wrenching cramp where his stomach used to be, and a lead weight in his chest instead of a heart. He cried out, unable to control himself, unable to regulate the pain. He felt incomplete, and it was not just a physical incompleteness.

Beth.

He forced his eyes to open, forced himself to look around. He was laying on the marble floor in the auction room, beside the wooden table. He had failed her. She was gone. He tried to sit up and his stomach muscles spasmed. He barked with pain and rolled over on his side, hugging himself.

"Welcome back," a deep voice said, and Khan could not believe his ears. He looked up at the man standing in the doorway. He was tall and broad-shouldered with auburn hair and intense teal eyes. The fidelity of the man's voice was unmistakable. He was an Augment.

"You died," the man said, crouching down and turning Khan's face into the light with a strong hand. "But your body is coming back, one system at a time."

In all of his years of fighting Khan had never come close to dying. "How?" he asked, watching as the man examined him. He was in his forties, with scar tissue under his left eye. It was the kind of scar that technology could remove in the twenty-third century; this man had chosen to keep it and Khan fleetingly wondered at its significance. As he stared a second man came up behind the first. His hair and eyes were darker, he had no scar, and he was a few years younger, but otherwise the mirror image.

"I knew you were an Augment," the second man said. "I devised half the games at the Citadel myself. Only a superior mind could have beaten the house as often as you. That, and your lack of identity. You're the Augment we heard about last year, you were discovered and awoken by Starfleet."

Khan nodded once, clarifying nothing.

"We own the Citadel," the first man explained. "My name is Sam Coghlan, my brother is Kelly. We have been looking for you since this morning. You killed two of our guards. When our men here today recognized you we ordered them to keep you in the building by any means necessary. We are familiar with the increased resistance of augments to traditional energy weapons so we instructed them to carry modified phasers. Some of your small blood vessels have been fried and you've lost a lot of fluid." Sam pointed to the scar under his eye. "I died once myself and I know how much it hurts until your cells regenerate. I apologize for the drastic measures."

Khan sat up carefully, putting his head between his knees. The pain in his stomach was already starting to subside but lactic acid was leaking into every muscle in his body. It felt like fire ants were crawling through his veins. "The woman," he said hoarsely.

"The one for sale? She's the one who restarted your heart," Sam told him. "We're told she gave you chest compressions after you died."

Khan put his hand over his heart. Was that the last place she had touched him?

"Surprising considering you'd just paid for the privilege of raping her," Kelly said. "Or do you know her?"

Khan looked up slowly, feeling his brain slide sickeningly inside his skull from a lack of cerebrospinal fluid. These were not normal men, yet when he tried to see them as Augments, there was something not quite right about them, like a blurriness where there should have been sharp edges. They were looking at him with a disturbing intensity.

"No," he said. He needed to find out what had happened to Beth, but if these men really were some kind of Augments he didn't want them being more curious about her than they already were. "We were told she was from Earth," Khan began, and then paused, gasping and pretending that his lungs were failing. He could feel his strength returning but he wanted to appear weak for as long as possible. After a few moments he continued, his voice pained and quiet. "I told her if she pleased me I would send her home when I was done with her."

"That _is_ an offer she wouldn't get from anyone else here. It's lucky that she believed you," Sam said. "If she hadn't restarted your heart your brain would have been too damaged for a full recovery by the time we arrived. She probably saved your life."

Of course she did, Khan thought. Somehow Beth always managed to succeed when he failed. "Where is she?" he asked.

"One of the bidders made us a private offer," Kelly said. "After today's fiasco it seemed the cleanest solution."

"Who?" Khan asked, fighting to keep the panic out of his voice. He tried to remember all of the men in the room. "Was it Clay?" He was the one with the reputation for inflicting injuries on the girls.

A third voice came from the door. It was Armie, all resentment and indignation. "Yes, it was Clay. He's already taken her back to his ship."

Sam and Kelly cringed and bristled as Armie entered the room, followed by two casino guards. Khan couldn't tell if the guards were containing Armie or protecting him. Khan stood slowly, relying on hate to give him strength, as it had so many times before. He noticed his bag on the table. It was open, still full of his credit chips, his sleek new PADD laying on the top.

Armie saw Khan looking at it and he stared greedily at the money. "It will cost you, but if you still want the girl I might be able to broker a deal for you when Clay is done with her, but knowing Clay, she's probably not worth having by then." He laughed, and the sound pulled a trigger in Khan's mind.

He reached inside the bag to grab his PADD. It was barely a few millimeters thick, but it was heavy enough to carry the right momentum. Khan crouched as the two guards fired phasers over his head and then he leaned forward to hurl the PADD. It sliced through the air for a fraction of a second before its thin metal edge sliced through the skin of Armie's neck.

There was a moment of stillness as shock registered around the room. None were more shocked than Armie, whose eyes widened in disbelief as his hands clumsily felt the PADD embedded deep in his throat.

"I'll always want the things that belong to me," Khan told him, smiling viciously as Armie made empty choking sounds. The PADD had severed his trachea and obstructed it completely. Armie pulled it out, freeing his airway but also unstopping his carotid artery. Blood gushed from the wide wound in his neck as he fell to his knees and keeled forward, dead.

Khan remained crouched, leaning back on his right foot, waiting for his next target to volunteer. To his surprise, the guards didn't move except to lower their weapons.

"Alright, you two, clear out," Sam ordered. The guards exited, leaving Khan alone with Sam and Kelly, and Armie's corpse.

"He was our brother." Kelly said matter-of-factly, looking down with disdain as Armie's blood spread towards him across the floor.

Khan shook his head. "That's impossible. You're…"

Kelly smiled – an unexpected reaction if Khan really had just murdered his brother. "We're the last descendants of the Augments from your time."

Sam also smiled. "Of course, as you would know, the original Augments couldn't normally breed, not with humans, not with each other. Our line started with two Augments. One was a full-blooded Augment."

"Pure, if you like," Kelly said.

"And the other was… different, somehow, but still augmented, and they were able to conceive children."

Khan understood. They were describing Primary and Secondary Augments, like himself and Beth. He stared at the men. Was he looking into his children's future, and their children's children's future?

"And they continued the line by breeding with each other."

Khan's eyes narrowed slightly. "Siblings bred with each other?"

Kelly nodded, unashamed. "Like Egyptian Pharaohs, to keep the bloodlines pure."

"Some mated with normal humans," Sam added. "But it diluted the very traits that made us special, so it was forbidden. Unfortunately, as the weak genes were eliminated by inbreeding, even mating with humans became impossible. Now we are so pure that even a runt like Armie was sterile."

Khan was shocked by how casually Sam and Kelly regarded their dead brother. "There were no females born in your generation?" he guessed, feeling nauseated. He thought of Beth and how he could not let them guess what she was, nor that she was carrying his children.

"We had a sister," Kelly said, with a trace of bitterness in his voice. "She could not accept the way things were."

"She committed suicide," Sam explained. "It was very Shakespearean."

"I'm sorry," Khan said, trying to sound sympathetic, but he guessed the sister was better off dead than attached at the womb to these two men, being forced to bear their children.

"We've invested in genetic research and cloning," Sam continued. "But we're yet to see any tangible results."

"Which brings us to the reason you're still alive," Kelly said.

Sam laughed. "That's right, brother, the king is dead, long live the king!"

Khan frowned in confusion, and decided he didn't like the way Sam called him _brother_.

"You killed Armie," Kelly explained. "Everything he had is now yours. All of his property, all of his power."

"That _is_ the Augment way," Khan conceded.

"Yes," Kelly said proudly, "We still honor the old traditions, as much as we know of them, anyway."

It was true, down to the closed-minded puritanical attitude, and the old ways had never seemed more archaic to Khan. "Why hasn't anyone killed Armie before now?" he asked.

Both men laughed. "We never felt inclined to allow it before," Kelly said.

"We want to make you a partner," Sam added, smiling expectantly. "It would be an honor and a pleasure."

"We rule this city and half the planet," Kelly said proudly. "With your help we could control it all. I think it is a worthy prize for you."

"Indeed," Khan said, waiting for the old heat of ambition to rise in his chest. It did not come. "What if I were to decline?"

"Why would you?" Kelly asked sharply. More than Sam, he seemed to take pride in his Augment heritage. Having a "real" Augment as a partner was probably quite a coup in his mind.

Khan tried to think of a reason that did not involve Beth, something that would impress the brothers. "Starfleet is still holding my Augment crew. I am on a mission to retrieve them." He picked up his bag. "I was here to raise funds."

Kelly's eyes widened. "An Augment crew? How many are there?"

There were seventy after the death of Ram and Rod, but Khan said "Six. Before I met you both I thought they were the only other Augments left in the universe."

Kelly smiled, pleased to be included in the company of _pure_ Augments. "We must help you find them."

"Of course we must," Sam agreed enthusiastically. "Is there anything we can do?"

Khan could only think of Beth, and how much danger she was in, how much she needed him, how much he needed her. "Yes," he said immediately, "Give me your fastest ship."

* * *

Beth's eyesight was returning. She could see blurred edges of light as three men walked her from a shuttle onto a larger ship. It was very warm on the new ship and the air smelled of smoke or incense. Her hands were bound behind her back with a nylon strap and when she tripped on a raised platform she had no way to break her fall. She turned her face to save her nose from smashing into the floor, but managed to hit her head on the side where it was already injured and painful.

"Bring her to my quarters," an unconcerned voice commanded, walking on ahead. Two pairs of hands pulled her up roughly by her arms and shoulders, manhandling her down a corridor and into a room lit with a red glow. The soft light was less painful on Beth's eyes and she found she could see more clearly. She was in a bedroom, but it was a bedroom only in the sense that there was a bed in the room. Otherwise it seemed more like a grand reception hall, complete with a gilded dining table, red leather couches and an imposing wooden desk. She was taken to a long chaise lounge opposite the desk and pushed down into it by the two men. She struggled, her hands bound, not to tip over onto her side.

The two men stood back, looking down at her. A third man – heavyset and bald, part human but with a pronounced Coridian forehead – came to stand between them. He was Clay, the man who had bought her after Khan died.

Khan. Beth's breath caught as the memory of his still heart returned to her with cruel clarity. She shook her head to clear it. She had to focus on these men in front of her.

She stared up at them, angry at herself that after all of her precautions and all of her mother's warnings, and everything she'd done and been through she was actually going to suffer the very fate she had spent most of her adult life trying to avoid. Beth knew she was powerless to save herself, powerless to stop these men from hurting her, powerless to avoid her destiny any longer.

"Do you know why I wanted you so badly?" Clay asked. He sat down beside Beth, running a finger along the neckline of her white dress. "My mother was a human whore, just like you." She looked up at the two men standing over them so she wouldn't have to look at Clay's evil smile. Did they like to watch? Did Clay like to _be_ watched?

"Look at me," he said to get her attention. He was irritated and there was also jealousy in his eyes as they darted to the other men. He put his hand on her face, stroking her skin with fascination. "You feel so beautiful," he said, and he leaned in to kiss her.

Beth pulled back instinctively and looked fearfully at the other men, half expecting them to step in and hold her down.

"I said look at _me_!" Clay shouted, taking her chin and jerking it towards him. "_I _bought you, not them."

He kissed her roughly, but pulled out of it a moment later. "Why do you keep looking at them?"

This time she hadn't been looking at anyone - she'd had her eyes screwed shut against his kiss. Clay had only touched her a few times, in this room and earlier in the shuttle, but he already seemed to be heavily affected by her augmented pheromones. Beth wondered if he was particularly susceptible, or if her fear was making them especially potent. But why would fear make them stronger? Surely that was the opposite of what her body should do in order to protect itself?

But then Beth thought back to the words Ram had used to describe Secondary Augments on Centula. He had called people like her _weapons_, and talked about them controlling and lowering the guards of others. Was it possible that her anomaly could somehow be used as a defense mechanism in times of extreme danger? If she could find a way to use it, would it protect her by distracting and confusing Clay? Beth suddenly knew what she had to do.

Taking a deep breath she leaned forward, pressing her cheek against Clay's jowls as she whispered in his ear. "They want me for themselves. They're going to take me away from you. The next time you turn your back they're going to put a knife in it."

He snapped his head back from her, his eyes suddenly full of fear and suspicion. Beth managed to smile at him, managed to make her voice calm and soothing. "You're the only one I want."

He jumped up from the lounge like he'd been stung. He turned on the other men. "Get out!" he shouted, shoving them away from her. "I said get out!" He chased them out of the room and while he was gone Beth looked around for something she could use to save herself. On the desk there was a plate of pomegranates and a silver knife was sticking out of one of the fruit. She stood up, watching for Clay to return, and turned around, backing up against the desk, her fingers feeling for the handle of the knife behind her back. They wrapped around the cool metal just as Clay came back into the room. He looked confused, and didn't comment on her standing up when she should have been sitting down. He walked over to her.

"I'm sorry about them," he said, scratching his head. "They won't be bothering us for the rest of the night."

Beth used the knife to cut through her nylon bonds, and this time she didn't have to fake her smile.

* * *

Khan didn't bother hailing Clay's cruiser. Once he was within transporter range he put the Coghlans' ship on auto-pilot and beamed aboard the cruiser. He was armed with every weapon he had acquired during his time on Golana. He was eager for the most important fight of his life.

But once he was on the ship he knew something was wrong. Alarms went off, alerting to an unauthorized passenger, but no one came to investigate. Khan moved from room to room on the ship, looking for Beth, for Clay, for the crew, for anyone. It wasn't until he got close to the end of a long corridor that he smelled the blood, and the singed hair and skin. He also smelled Beth and he tried to manage his dread as he looked through the open door.

Whatever he had expected to find, it was not Clay's dead body laying on the floor, his throat cut and a pool of blood cooling around his shoulders. There were two more men on the floor, both of them stunned with a phaser. They were not dead, but they had been fired on so many times that their clothes and skin and the hair on their chests were burned. They would be unconscious for a very long time.

Then Khan saw a small silver knife laying on the ground beside Clay's body. He went to it and picked it up and automatically sensed Beth had held it in her hand. She had killed Clay and shot these two men. Khan looked around for her. "Beth?" he said aloud. Was she hiding? She was probably traumatized. What had these men done to her to make her capable of such violence?

"Beth!" he called out as he backtracked through the ship, looking in every cupboard, every dark place she could have hidden herself. She must be so afraid, she was probably in shock. He just hoped she hadn't done something to hurt herself. He ended up in the shuttle bay and saw that there was room for one shuttle but there were none docked. He went to the computer and checked the ship's manifest. There was a shuttle registered to the cruiser and Khan knew that Beth had taken it to escape. He laughed with relief, knowing that she was safe, knowing he should be able to catch up to her easily. He would be counting the minutes until he found her, until he could see her and hold her again.

* * *

**This is an important chapter for Beth! Turns out she saved Khan's life and she learned her anomaly might actually help her out sometimes. Hope you enjoyed this chapter - thanks for reading!**


	4. Coupling and Conversation - Pt 1

**Inspired by a reader request, these next chapters show Khan and Beth's first night together on Centula. In the beginning of Chapter 32 we learned that Khan has had Beth five different ways during the night. This picks up at the end of Chapter 31 where Khan is kneeling between her legs. Will include lots of pillow talk and getting to know each other – hope you enjoy!**

**Caution - adult content**

* * *

**Coupling and Conversation - Part 1**

Khan had spent the first thirty minutes dissecting the delicate folds of her sex with his tongue, learning every square centimeter of her, varying his speed and pressure, measuring her responses, testing her sensitivity. Now he used that information to devastating effect, holding Beth at the brink of orgasm, dangling her above a chasm of intemperate pleasure as he waited for the right moment to flick her over the edge.

"Please," she begged him, not for the first time that afternoon, as he increased the pressure on the upper-right quadrant of her clitoris only to pull back at the last moment. She leaned up on her elbows, groaning in frustration, looking down at him between her legs. She pleaded with her eyes. She was breathing hard, her lips dry as they tried to form the words.

Khan pulled his mouth from her, smiling complacently. "Did you say something?" He blew cool air over her aching clitoris as she tried to talk.

She could just gasp loudly at the sensation. "Please… don't… stop."

He laughed, turning his head to the side and gently biting her inner thigh. She shuddered at the slight pain. Her eyes fluttered closed.

"Look at me, Beth."

She did, blinking heavily, taking a long time to focus.

"Keep looking at me."

She nodded and Khan bent his head down, keeping eye contact with her as he slowly brought her back to the brink. Her eyes were so dilated they looked almost black in the low light. He let her hips set the rhythm against his tongue as he reached his hands up to her breasts. His fingers squeezed her soft skin, pinching her nipples with increasing force until she cried out, breathing even faster, even harder.

She was making the final assent. Her eyes squeezed shut, her mouth opened wide as Khan slid two fingers back inside her. Nothing could make him stop this time.

It took a minute – a loud, arching, desperate minute - for Beth's climax to fully engulf her.

"Khan!" She reached down for him blindly and he took her hand, squeezing it tight as the contractions began. Her cries echoed around the cave and reverberated through her flesh. He felt like he was drowning in her pleasure, losing himself completely.

Several minutes later, as she lay still and panting on the blankets, Khan raised himself up to look down at her. She was golden in the yellow lamp light. Her eyes were closed, every muscle completely spent. Without releasing her hand he pulled her legs together, holding them over his left shoulder, leaning his head against her calf. He was so hard for her that he ached but she looked so peaceful and contented that he didn't want to move. If she fell asleep in that moment he could stay like that all night.

"Why do you keep torturing me?" she finally asked, still breathless, her voice low.

She pulled her hand back and Khan studied her face, half-afraid that he would see lingering resentment for his abuse of her on the shuttle, but Beth just smiled playfully and stretched her arms over her head, peering at him through her long eyelashes. He kissed the side of her knee, running his hands down her thighs.

He could feel the worst parts of him - all of his torn edges and broken corners - being worn smooth by her gentle, yielding acceptance of them. He tried to imagine who he would be without them, and failed.

He wanted to tell Beth that he loved her again, but the words suddenly felt like a betrayal. Eventually they would have to leave this sanctuary, and it was only a matter of time before she would stop ignoring the way he'd hurt her and her friends. She would want to leave him, and he would never allow that. How could he tell her that he loved her now, knowing how much he would have to hurt her later?

"May I enter you?" he asked instead, in an effort to stop the fear that was spreading down his neck. He lifted her hips, pulling them closer to where he knelt beside the makeshift bed. The tip of his cock pressed against the back of her closed thighs – he could feel the heat of her sex - but he waited for her consent. Even that felt two-faced. He told himself he should force himself into her so at least she knew where she stood - let her get used to it now. But Beth smiled and nodded, suspecting nothing. How could she look so happy at the idea of him violating her again?

Her hands reached out to the side, balling the blankets into her fists as he positioned himself at her entrance. "Relax, I'll go slow," Khan promised, knowing she was still inexperienced and feeling the return of his predatory satisfaction that he'd been the first and only man inside her.

He pressed his hips forwards, sinking into her warm wetness, feeling her stretch around his manhood, gripping it tightly. She felt so good and so right to him. It was more than just a hormonal reaction to her anomaly, it was more than just the taking of a mate. Khan loved Beth, he loved being inside her, he loved that she was his and only his. She tried to open her legs to accommodate him but Khan held them together, circling his arms around them, keeping them tight against his chest. He wanted to hold her, but at the same time he had to hold her at a distance.

She shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position as he started a slow motion in and out of her. "Khan," she said, holding her arms out to him. "Khan, come here."

He longed to crawl into her arms, to kiss her and feel the whole length of her body pressed against him, but all he could think was how such intimacy would only end up hurting her more.

"Khan," she persisted, her eyes looking up at him with so much trust and desire – not just for sex, but for the part of him that he had never given to anyone before. "Khan, I love you."

"Beth," he breathed hopelessly, shaking his head.

"I want to be with you, Khan," she said, her eyes serious. Her voice was suddenly so solemn he wondered if she had guessed what he'd been thinking. "Forever."

He let himself believe her for a moment and that single moment of hope and happiness was enough to dwarf all of Khan's fears. He pulled himself out of her and quickly stood, leaning over her, picking her up and laying her out on the blankets so he could climb on top of her.

She laughed in surprise as he was suddenly above her, kissing her lips, her cheek, her shoulder, her breasts. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, welcoming him home as he slid back inside her.

* * *

Beth loved being with Khan again. She loved how he felt, how hard he was, how full he made her, how gently he touched her despite his growing urgency. She loved the look of pleasure on his face as she pushed his dark hair off his forehead, and the appreciative noises he made each time she raised her hips or used her legs to pull him closer. Most of all she loved the way he struggled to hold off his orgasm, and the way she was able to overwhelm him with just a few whispered words. He came hard and loud, grinding almost painfully against her pelvis as he struggled to get as deep as possible.

Afterwards Khan lay beside her, his right arm and leg draped over her body. "I love you," he said, nuzzling her neck, sighing with pleasure and contentment as she stroked the back of his head. "Of all the women I've been with, I've never felt anything like this."

"So you've had a lot of women?" Beth asked, trying to sound amused but she suddenly felt jealous, imagining all of the beautiful Augment women before her. "How many have there been?"

"Oh, Beth." Khan raised his head, smiling at her, but he also looked cautious, like he was gauging her reaction. "I've been single almost my whole life, and back then, and especially among Augments, that meant you had many partners instead of none."

"Is it different being with me than an Augment?" Beth asked.

Khan kissed her jaw, just below her ear. It brought out goosebumps down the whole right side of her body. "It's different being with you, period, Beth. You're different to any Augment and any regular human."

"I mean, is Augment sex different? Is it… easier? I don't know, is it…?"

"Better?" Khan guessed.

Beth nodded. "Do you miss it?"

"No," he said quickly. "It can be more abandoned maybe. Sometimes I have to hold back so I don't hurt you, but it isn't better. I have never before had the sensations or emotions that I've had with you, and sex has never been more meaningful to me. And not just because of your anomaly, and not just because I got you pregnant." He turned her face toward him to make sure she was looking at him. "I love you, Elizabeth Walker, and I always will."

Beth smiled. "And I love you, Khan… I'm sorry," she said, horrified that she didn't know his full name.

"Noonien Singh," he provided, unoffended.

"Singh? Is that an Indian name?"

He nodded. "It's the name I chose when I assumed leadership of A.M.E."

"A.M.E.?"

"Asia and the Middle East."

"And when you say leadership…"

"I led the Augment factions against the human standing armies. I was twenty-seven. It was at the height of the Eugenic Wars."

"Wow." Beth looked up at the ceiling of the cave, at the small, sparkling crystals that seemed to glow in the lamp light. And she'd been proud when she'd finally made Lieutenant at twenty-eight.

"I was a soldier, Beth, and a good one. I rose in the ranks because I was highly competent and respected. I killed a lot of people, but never unless I had to. I want you to know that about me."

She nodded. She could hear the concern in his voice. "I understand," she said, not sure that she did, or ever could. "I love you, Khan Noonien Singh."

He exhaled loudly. It was almost a sigh of relief. Beth turned to face him and he was waiting. He kissed her, bringing his hand up to touch her cheek. It was deep and tender, a kiss of understanding and gratitude.

When he pulled back he was smiling. He seemed more relaxed. "Can you taste yourself on my lips when I kiss you?" he asked curiously.

Beth felt herself blush, and was glad of the soft light as Khan looked at her. She nodded, trying to be casual about it, like it was nothing new.

"Have you tasted yourself before?"

His fingers dropped to her left breast, stroking it absently, drawing circles on her skin. She nodded again, unable to hide her self-conscious smile.

He smiled as well. "Do you like it?"

She didn't know how to answer that. "Do you like the way you taste?" she asked instead.

"Not particularly," he admitted. "But it is nutritious."

Beth laughed. "That sounds like a line to get oral sex."

Khan laughed as well and Beth stared. He actually looked happy. She had never seen him happy before. "Better than a protein shake," he joked. "Have you tasted a man's sperm before?"

She shook her head.

His smile was suddenly hesitant. His hand stopped moving over her skin. "Do you want to taste it now?"

Beth bit her bottom lip and nodded slowly. "Okay."

Khan snaked his right hand down her stomach and between her legs. He pressed his middle finger just inside her opening. Closing his eyes, he pushed it deeper. "You're so warm," he whispered, almost to himself. A moment later he withdrew his finger and raised it to her mouth. He rested it on her bottom lip, offering it to her. "Open your mouth," he said quietly, his voice huskier than usual. She did so and he slid the tip of his finger inside. She could taste his sperm, mixed with more of her own juices. It was a strong, strange taste, but not entirely unpleasant. Beth swirled her tongue around the tip of his finger and then closed her lips around it, sucking it in to the second knuckle.

"Ah," Khan grunted, pressing his hips forward against Beth's leg. She smiled, feeling him becoming hard again. She wrapped her hands around his hand, slowly pulling his finger from her mouth as she sucked on it with more and more force. It finally came out with a pop. She grinned up at Khan with growing confidence. He was staring at her with surprise and unconcealed arousal.

"Please," she said, guiding his wet finger down her chin, between her breasts, and even lower. "May I have some more?"

* * *

**Five is quite a few different ways - I hope I can come up with enough different positions! Please review or PM me any suggestions :) Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!**


	5. Coupling and Conversation - Pt 2

**Thanks for all the awesome, sexy suggestions! I used a couple in this chapter and have plans to incorporate more ideas in future scenes :)**

**Caution: adult content**

* * *

**Coupling and Conversation - Part 2**

Beth leaned over Khan as he lay back on the blankets. She tried to concentrate on kissing him, but each time she let herself get lost in the feeling of his tongue in her mouth and his breath in her lungs, he would place a hand over hers to remind her that she was also supposed to be stroking his erection. The fourth or fifth time this happened Beth growled with frustration, pushing herself up to sit beside him.

Khan laughed, bending his left arm behind his head. When she reached for a blanket to cover herself he took it from her, letting his eyes wander down her bare chest.

"Your hand feels beautiful," he assured her. "You have a natural touch, don't worry about my climax."

"But I love it when you get me off with your hands," Beth said, reaching out to stroke Khan's arousal with feather-light fingers. It twitched, making her stomach tighten. "Especially when you're kissing me."

"That's different," he said. "Unlike you, I have a limited supply of orgasms and when I do have one there are other places I'd rather be."

"Oh?" Beth asked with faux-innocence. She turned her head to hide her grin behind a wall of honey blonde waves.

Khan sat up as well, sliding across the blankets so he was close to her. "Shall I show you?" he asked, putting a finger under her chin and turning her back to face him. He ran the finger over her smile, tracing her lips. "This is one place," he said, smiling as well as he kissed her.

His finger trailed down between her breasts. Beth involuntarily arched her back, raising them to him. "This is another place," he said, and with both hands he pressed her breasts together, creating a deep line of cleavage. He held them together for a while as Beth watched his imagination play across his face. She reached out tentatively to stroke him again. It distracted him but he smiled approvingly, his hand following the well-worn trail down her stomach to rub the soft hair of her sex.

"This is my favorite place," he said as she continued to touch him. "But if you turn around I'll show you another."

Beth's hand hesitated. Her eyes widened in surprise. Khan laughed at her reaction, the sound so gentle and relaxed. "Don't look so scared," he teased, kissing her again. His tongue licked over her mouth, curling under her top lip to pull it in between his teeth. When he leaned back to look at her his eyes glinted with unspoken promises in the lamp light. "One day, but not today."

He put his hand around hers, encouraging it to glide along the full length of his arousal. "You're becoming very... proficient," he praised, his hand running up her arm, his eyes closing as he leaned in to kiss her neck and breathe against her skin.

"I have a good teacher," she said just as softly, turning her head as he kissed up the side of her face.

"Will you teach me as well?" he asked, brushing his lips over her cheekbone. "Will you show me how you like to be touched?"

Beth laughed. "You already know how I like to be touched. You've learned more about my body in the last few hours than I figured out in my whole life."

"Maybe," Khan conceded. "But will you _show_ me?"

* * *

He watched Beth process his request.

"You want me to do it in front of you?" she asked after a long moment. "Touch myself?"

Khan nodded, drinking in her awkwardness. "I would enjoy that very much."

Her cheeks turned red, the blush spreading to her chest.

"You don't think you're good at it?" he asked curiously, stroking her jaw. "You're worried you won't be able to cum?"

She looked away and laughed, pretending to be insulted. "I've had fifteen years of practice."

"Then what?" he asked, inching closer until his chest pressed against her right shoulder. He put an arm around her, stroking her hair as it flowed down her back.

"I don't look good when I do it," she finally said.

Khan held back his laughter. It was the most ludicrous thing he'd ever heard. "That's impossible. How could you think…?" Then a displeasing thought occurred to him. "Did someone tell you that?"

"No," she said hastily, probably guessing he might be jealous not to be the first man to share something with her. "I recorded myself once and then watched it. Well, I tried to watch it, but it was too ridiculous."

Khan moved back to look at Beth's face. "When was this?"

She shrugged. "I was in the Academy. I think it was my third year."

"Why did you record yourself?"

"I don't know," she said. "It was the mid-term break and my roommate had gone home. Everyone in my dorm was gone."

"You were lonely?" Khan asked, wishing he had known Beth then, thinking how different their lives would have been if they'd been born at the right time, if they'd met the right way.

She shrugged again, then laughed. "I think by then I was mostly frustrated. I thought if I made the recording I could find somewhere to put it online, and I'd get to share something of myself with someone, even if it was just… _that_. Even if I never knew who they were."

"And did you?" Khan asked, knowing this time she wouldn't have to guess at the jealousy in his voice. The idea that there could be a recording of Beth doing that… and that men had watched it, were probably still watching it… he hated the idea, but at the same time he'd give anything to watch it himself.

"No, of course not," she said. "I told you, it was too ridiculous. The expression on my face, the noises I made…"

She shuddered, but Khan was enthralled. "Yes?"

He touched her cheek, imagining her in her dorm room, so young and alone, desperate to connect with someone, anyone. "If you're embarrassed, I won't watch you, but please let me share this with you, Beth." He looked at the cave wall behind the rock they sat on. There was one section that looked smooth and sloped away at a slight angle. He moved towards it, touching Beth's arm. "Come over here."

He turned and leaned against the rock, stretching his legs out in front of him, tucking a blanket behind his head. Beth watched and when he was ready she crawled over to him. She let him position her in his lap, facing away from him, leaning her back against his chest.

He felt his cock straining at her proximity, at the comfortable, seductive weight of her on his thighs. But Khan tucked his wayward member behind her tailbone and she sighed, sinking into his arms as he wrapped them tightly around her.

* * *

"Mmm," Beth murmured, feeling Khan's warmth and strength as she reclined on top of him. She let her head rest against his shoulder and when she turned it to the side she could hear his heart beating in his chest.

"Mmm," Khan echoed. "Just relax, Beth. Take your time and pretend I'm not here."

"No," she said quietly, wishing she could make him understand. "I love you being here. I just don't want to disappoint you."

He kissed the side of her head and unwrapped his arms to run his hands down the front of her body. They drifted over her breasts and came to rest on her stomach for a moment and Beth knew that in the middle of everything he was remembering the part of himself she carried inside her. "Disappointing me is the last thing you could ever do."

She sighed as his hands moved further down, along her thighs, resting again on her knees that were bent up in front of her. He pulled them apart slowly and Beth felt cool air settle against her sex.

It took a few minutes for her to remember how to touch herself. She trailed her fingers up and down her ribs for a long time, trying to recall the last time she'd masturbated. It had been the day Spock had come to visit her in her quarters, maybe two hours before he'd arrived. She had started the Berrtak soup and had a shower and while she was still warm and soft from the steam she'd lay down on her small bed, completely naked, above the covers. She'd imagined Spock arriving early in her room, unannounced, and catching her touching herself. His desire would win out over his logical restraint and he would fall on her and kiss her everywhere and then take her nice and slow while the soup burned over on the stove.

Beth reached down between her legs and heard Khan's breath catch in his throat. She felt his whole body shift under her as she started to stroke herself slowly. He was so strong, she told herself, and she loved him so much, and he actually loved her back. Despite how dangerous he could be, and how much trouble he could still cause, she knew she was lucky to have him.

Sliding her hand up and down she tried to focus on the coolness of her fingers against the heat of her sex. It felt swollen to her and she laughed, wondering if it was from overuse, and guessing it was going to get a lot more use before the night was over.

In the way her mind usually strayed when she was trying to make it focus, Beth wondered what Spock was going to do that night. She imagined him finding the cave entrance and catching her and Khan together. He'd already watched them together once – would he want to watch again? Would he want to join in?

Beth moaned as she suddenly imagined being pinned between these two powerful men… her feet not even touching the ground… Spock in front of her… Khan behind… their hands fighting for real estate on her breasts… both of their mouths clamped down on her neck…Spock holding up one of her legs… driving himself in and out of her pussy… Khan squeezing her hips… pulling her back against him... his cock deep in her ass… it would hurt but Khan could have her any way he wanted… Spock would kiss her and Khan would growl but let him do it… let Spock fuck her because it gave her so much pleasure...

Beth hissed, her head pushing back on Khan's chest, her back arching off him. "Oh, S…shit…" It sounded just like any other breathless expletive but Beth pressed her lips together, biting them hard. Her heart was racing. She had almost said Spock's name in that moment.

"What are you thinking about?" Khan asked with fascination as she trembled against him. His voice was thick with arousal; he was oblivious to the huge mistake she'd almost made.

But Beth was frozen, trying to think of a response – any response - to Khan's question. She could never tell him this fantasy. He would be so hurt, so angry. She didn't know what he was capable of if she pushed his buttons, and as much as that thought excited her, she also knew she couldn't risk finding out.

Khan's hands gripped the insides of Beth's thighs, pulling them back, spreading them even further. His fingers dug into her soft skin, kneading it. She could feel him wanting to touch her, wanting to take over.

"You don't have to answer," he said finally, his lips against the helix of her ear. "Don't stop. Keep going."

His hands ran over her hips and under her buttocks. He lifted her easily, sliding her up his chest. "Keep going," he repeated and this time it felt like his voice was in her head.

As her middle finger resumed circling her throbbing clitoris Khan lowered Beth back down, angling her so his cock could find what it wanted, gliding along her slick outer lips to come to rest at her opening. It pushed against her, penetrating an inch. Khan held her there for a moment to enjoy her frustration, and it felt like minutes to Beth. She reached down to feel him, to feel where they were connected, to feel the way her opening stretched around him. She writhed in his strong hands, trying to get more of him inside her, and then suddenly, "Ohhh…" Her eyes rolled back in her head as he released her, letting her sink all the way down on his cock.

* * *

Khan closed his eyes as Beth's warmth engulfed him. He listened to her uneven breaths and the soft whimpering noises she made in the back of her throat. He loved the way her body rocked against him and curled around him as she rubbed herself. Her fair hair stuck to the sweat on her face and neck. With his hands on her hips, he eased her up and down his erection, so slowly, up and down. "You feel so good," he purred into her ear, feeling her body react to the pleasure in his voice.

"What are you thinking?" he asked again, knowing he had no right. He knew better than anyone that sex in a fantasy had nothing to do with actual sex, and especially not with making love… but Khan wanted any conduit into Beth's mind that she would give him. He tried to make his plea sound like a command. "Tell me."

She turned her face in his direction, licking her lips. Her eyes were unfocused, almost closed. She smelled so ripe he wanted to bite into her. "You," she said between gulping breaths.

She made that one word a paradox, full of guilt and love and fear and excitement. Khan knew he should stop. "Tell me," he said again. "What am I…"

"You're angry," Beth answered quickly, stroking herself even faster.

"Why?" he asked, feeling his grip on her tighten.

"You're jealous," she said. "You think someone else has…" Her voice trailed off as her hand grabbed her own breast. Khan stared down at the way her pink nipple protruded between two of her fingers.

"Someone else has fucked you?" he guessed, letting his voice turn dangerous and feeling Beth quiver in response. "Someone else has had his hands on you? His dick inside you?"

She gasped at his blunt language, but nodded, unable to reply.

"I would hurt any man who touches you," Khan promised, saying the words as much for his pleasure as hers. "And kill any man who fucks you. And if you let a man fuck you... if you wanted him... I would kill him right in front of you."

Beth was panting loudly, taking deep, desperate breaths. She was rubbing herself furiously – Khan knew she was getting close - he could feel her tightening around him as he slowly pumped her up and down.

"And then I would take you Beth," Khan continued, taking his time with each individual word, so aroused that she wanted to hear them. "I would take you so hard that you wouldn't be able to remember how he felt inside you, and I would make you cum over and over, so many times that you wouldn't remember his name."

She grunted, her hips twisting in his hands. Her legs stretched out, her toes curling. Khan pulled her down hard on his cock, thrusting up inside her. "Because _this_ is all you need, Beth." She cried out and Khan felt her orgasm beginning, clenching him powerfully as he raised her up and brought her down again. "_This_ is all you'll ever need."

* * *

**I was thinking about that last bit a lot today - it was a bit hard to focus on anything else, really :) Hope it didn't get too intense for anyone - please let me know how I'm doing. CLTex, does that count as reverse cowgirl? Whitney G - I hope you saw the little something I threw in there for you! Thanks to all for reading, reviewing, faving and and following along on this journey of discovery for Beth and Khan (and me as a writer of smut!)**

**For the guest who asked if Beth's dream (Ch 48) was a premonition... not really, but I think it's a sign that Beth and Khan think along the same lines :)**

**xo**


	6. Coupling and Conversation - Pt 3

******Caution: adult content**

* * *

******Coupling and Conversation - Part 3**

Beth lay sprawled on top of Khan, unable to move except for residual spasms that radiated from her groin and ran the whole length of her body. With each shudder she heard Khan try to stifle a deep groan. He was still so hard inside her, his hands clenching her hips painfully as he held her tight against him.

"Kha…" But she could barely catch her breath, let alone talk. Not that she knew what to say. She had lived most of her adult life in fear of men becoming smothering and violent around her, yet when Khan had spoken those possessive words and made those brutal promises they had seemed so natural, and had aroused her so much. Deep down did she really want a man that acted that way? Did her admitting her fantasy give him permission to follow through on his words some day? Not that she would ever give him cause, but if he even suspected… she thought about kissing Spock on the shuttle and regretted it all over again. Khan would never understand – she barely understood it herself.

Pulling her legs together, Beth tried to sit up. The movement elicited another groan from Khan and his fingers dug even deeper into her hips, keeping her where she was.

"Khan," she managed to say. Her mouth and throat were dry. "I need some water."

Her words took a long moment to reach him but eventually his grip on her softened and she felt his hands become gentle against her skin. "Of course."

He sat up as well, holding her left hand to help her, sucking in his breath as she slid herself off his member. As she began to crawl away across the blankets, towards the edge of the rock, he was suddenly behind her, leaning over her, one hand on her waist, the other on her shoulder. There was a deep rumbling vibration in the air around her as he pinned her in place. She could feel his erection pressed hot against her buttock. He was not hurting her but the abruptness made Beth yelp in surprise.

Khan withdrew his hands immediately. "I'm sorry," he said, sounding shocked at himself.

"It's okay," she told him, but she heard the tremor in her own voice. Still on her hands and knees in front of him, she looked back over her shoulder. He was sitting back on his haunches, his erection still glistening from being inside her. He was staring between her legs, his expression carnal, barely controlled. "I'll be right back," she promised, sitting down on the blankets in an effort to conceal her privates from him, and scooted to the edge of the rock. When she put her feet on the ground and took a few shaky steps he was behind her again, but this time to catch her as her right knee gave out.

"You need to eat," he said, his words deliberately measured like he was struggling to maintain any semblance of control. "I'll get dressed and go back to the shuttle for food."

"Don't go." Beth was worried about what would happen if he ran into Spock again, but mostly she just didn't want to be away from him. "I'm fine, and I have food from the station. It's enough for the two of us for tonight."

"Good," he said. "You have to stay strong. Think of…"

He couldn't finish the sentence. Beth knew Khan still had trouble saying the words. "The babies?"

He held her against his side and looked down at her face. Beth felt overwhelmed by the intensity in his eyes, so full of love and concern.

"They'll be okay, Khan. I promise I'll do everything I can to take care of them."

"I know you will." He kissed the top of her head. "I just hope I can take care of you."

* * *

He picked up the yellow lamp and walked with Beth to the small waterfall on the other side of the cavern. He set the lamp down on a rock as she stepped into the cool water, and he watched her for a minute as she turned her face into the spray, catching water in her mouth and drinking deeply.

She had become dehydrated and Khan chastised himself for letting it happen. Thinking back, he'd felt it on her dry lips and tasted it on her skin, but he'd been too concerned with satiating his own thirst for Beth to think about her well-being.

Khan had to keep reminding himself that she was not an Augment. She did not have his stamina, nor his resilience, and this was all so new to her, she wouldn't be able to anticipate her own needs yet. If Khan was honest with himself, it was new to him as well. He'd never experienced this kind of all-consuming sex before, because he'd never felt this kind of desire. His desire for Augment women had been purely physical, even when he was close to them and enjoyed their company. Any enjoyment he'd derived from sex was basic stress relief, and felt more like a fun throwback to primitive ancestors than a vital act of existence.

And the love he felt for Beth was completely different from anything else he'd felt before as well. The love he had for his lost crew was still important to him – they still felt like part of him and he still burned with anger and guilt over their murder and the way he'd let Spock beat him, but his love for Beth was something Khan had never expected or anticipated in his lifetime.

She was his true life partner, a missing piece of himself he'd never realized was missing until the first time he'd let himself feel tenderness for her. And she was the future mother of his children. That fact alone made her incredibly precious to him, but the protectiveness he felt was not just protectiveness for the survival of his genes. He'd barely known Beth a week but already he could not imagine life without her. When he'd talked about killing any man who tried to take her from him, it was not just pride or sexual jealousy Khan had felt; it was basic self-preservation. Beth had become a fundamental force in his life, no less important than gravity. Without her, he would be adrift in the universe.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked him, still standing under the spray, water cascading down her supple curves. She combed her fingers through her wet hair, tilting her head to one side as she watched him. "You look sad."

Khan went to her and after a tentative smile she put her arms around him, pulling him under the water with her. He felt her love and the cool water wash away his doubts. They were together, and there was no reason they could not stay together. Even if they had to spend the rest of their lives on this strange red planet they could be happy.

Spock was a complication Khan would deal with when the time came, and he was even willing to follow Beth's lead on that. Seeking vengeance was not worth hurting her or creating walls between them.

He realized she was still waiting for an answer to her question. He couldn't even remember what he'd been thinking about; all he knew was that she felt good and right pressed against him, and he felt unexpectedly safe in her weak arms. "Are you just with me because you're trying to protect Spock?" he asked.

The words surprised Khan as they came out of his mouth. It was the unnerving question that had been in the back of his mind since the first time she'd smiled at him on the shuttle, only he'd been too afraid to admit the possibility to himself let alone ask it aloud.

Beth pulled back to look at him, and her face was unreadable. Khan suddenly didn't want her to answer. If she lied, he would know it and things would never be the same.

"Are you just with me because of my anomaly?" she asked instead.

Khan opened his mouth to reply – it was a stupid question – she already knew how he felt. But of course that was her point. Her question had been no more stupid than his. Khan laughed and kissed her, hearing her laugh as well, feeling her shoulders shake as he put his hands on them. He loved the sound of her laughter as much as the sounds she made when he was giving her pleasure. He wanted her to make both kinds of sounds as much as possible.

"Mmm," she moaned suddenly, and her hands ran down Khan's wet back, over the contours of his muscles. They came to rest on his buttocks, pulling him closer. He was hard again - or still - he didn't know if it had ever gone down, or if it ever would again. Sex with Beth was addictive – no wonder mere human men had lost their minds over her. Khan could feel himself sinking into her like he'd sunk into the mud pits, only this time he wasn't struggling to get free.

"How do you want me now?" she asked, a determined friskiness in her voice as one hand snaked around in front to touch him.

It was all Khan could do to pry her fingers off his manhood. "Not until you've eaten."

* * *

They both sat on the edge of their makeshift bed, Beth's satchel between them. She wrapped a blanket around herself and handed one to Khan to lay over his lap. Having his arousal so front and center was both intimidating and distracting to her. Once it was covered she tipped the satchel's contents out on the rock.

Khan's hands immediately went to the phaser she'd found in the research station. He picked it up, examining it, and fired it across the cave, filling the space with red light. It made Beth nervous for a moment as she watched him smile, pleased by the weapon she had brought him.

"Just for self-defense," she said mildly. "There are carnivorous quadrupeds up in the mountains, kind of a cross between bears and wolves."

He nodded benignly, but they both knew he wouldn't hesitate to use it on animals of the two-legged variety as well.

She handed him a folded pocket tool made of steel. "This is for you."

He turned it over in his hand and pulled out each blade and tool, testing sharpness, tensile strength and whatever other properties he found important. Beth watched him until he was done, and he smiled again. "Thank you."

There was also a small flashlight and an empty canteen. Beth started to ration out the food, making two piles of dried meat and cereal packets. She pushed one pile towards Khan. "It's nothing fancy," she apologized.

He pushed the food back towards her. "You eat both. I don't need it."

"Khan, there's plenty, and we can get more in the morning."

"Please, I want you to have it." His voice was so earnest that Beth didn't argue.

She just nodded and opened a bag of cereal. "Then tell me something," she said, finding it hard to eat with him just staring at her. "Tell me about your childhood."

Khan leaned back on one hand, his eyes tracking her movements as he talked. "I am sure my childhood was... different from yours, but it was not unhappy. I didn't have parents, but there were a group of Augment guardians that cared for the initiates. They were our teachers, our mentors, our trainers and our disciplinarians. A few of them transferred or were reassigned, but most of them stayed with us until we matured. We formed close bonds of trust and loyalty."

"Where was this?"

"In Istanbul, in Turkey. We were in an Augment compound. This was before the war, but our lifestyle was very disciplined and regulated, practically militant. It suited our temperaments and made the humans feel safe to see us so under their control."

"Did you do anything for fun?"

Khan looked at her like the question offended him. "Of course. We played games and sports and had parties and watched movies."

Beth smiled, trying to imagine Khan at a party. "What kinds of games did you play?"

"Mostly contact sports: rugby, wrestling, tag..."

She laughed. "Tag?"

His eyes narrowed. "Are you mocking me?"

"No, of course not," she said quickly. "But tag's not really a contact sport." She could remember playing it with her mother and it usually involved a lot of high-pitched squealing and running around the couch.

"It was the way we played it. When we tagged each other it was more like a tackle. We had epic games of tag that went on for days, all over the compound, up on the rooftops, sometimes over the wall and into the city."

"Cool," Beth grinned. "That's like playing hide-and-seek with my mom where I grew up in Alaska. I was allowed to hide anywhere I liked. Not just in the house - I could go into the forest or down by the river, anywhere at all, and then she would find me. Sometimes it would take all day."

Khan nodded. "She was training you, teaching you how to conceal yourself."

"I think you're right," Beth said. "And looking back, I think sometimes she wanted me to hide for real. Maybe she was expecting someone at the house or she thought we were in danger or something. I don't know. I was never allowed to come home on my own. I always had to wait for her to find me. One time she didn't come and I stayed out all night and slept in a tree."

Khan frowned at her and his voice was suddenly solemn. "Did anyone ever hurt you?"

She shook her head. "No, I was always safe with my Mom."

He nodded, somewhat satisfied, though his eyes were still very serious. Beth wanted him to smile again. "Tell me something else."

"What do you want to hear?"

She knew he could talk all night and never bore her, but she could also feel herself growing warm again just to have him look at her so intently. "I told you one of my fantasies. Now tell me one of yours."

He did smile at that and suddenly looked like a teenager as he tried to act aloof. "You mean a sexual fantasy?"

Beth nodded, also trying to keep a straight face. "Tell me something you've never told anyone before."

"That would be easy, because the fantasies I have about you are unlike any fantasies I've ever had about anyone else."

"Really?" The thought that she was so unique to Khan gave Beth butterflies. "Tell me one."

But he shook his head. "I don't want to scare you."

She laughed. "I'm too busy scaring myself over here. It turns out the things I used to think I was the most afraid of are some of the things I like best about you."

"Like what?" Khan asked curiously, his voice deepening slightly. Beth loved the way it did that when he became aroused.

"I'm eating," she said, hiding behind her bag of cereal. "You go first."

Khan shifted on the rock, and she could see him thinking. "This is just a fantasy," he reminded her, looking suddenly nervous.

She nodded. "Trust me, I won't judge you."

But he still looked pensive, and when he spoke his voice was very quiet. "I like to think about overpowering you."

Beth felt the butterflies in her stomach again, but she said nothing until he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "Go on," she said.

"That's all it is," he said. "It's not a rape fantasy," he added quickly. "Even now that we're together I still think about it… about your muscles straining against me, your nails scratching at me, your heart pounding in your chest as I slowly make you yield..."

His voice trailed off self-consciously and Beth nodded. She knew what he meant. "I can do that for you," she said softly.

Khan closed his eyes without looking at her and shook his head. "It's not a game, Beth."

"I'll let you know if I really want you to stop," she said. "I'm just saying…"

"No, it's out of the question." He turned and looked at her sternly.

Beth didn't understand why he sounded so angry. She picked up a stick of the meat jerky and bit down hard in frustration, almost breaking her teeth. She laughed suddenly and Khan looked up, maybe afraid she was mocking him again.

"Did I miss something?"

"No, but this stuff is just as bad as the moose jerky we had back home. Sometimes, toward the end of winter it was the only protein we had." She thumped it hard against the rock. "Unless you wanted to go ice fishing on the river, and my mom hated ice fishing."

Khan seemed to relax at the change in conversation. "I've never done it, but I crossed the Himalayas twice, so I've been in heavy snow. It was beautiful."

"You crossed the Himalayas on foot?" Beth asked.

Khan nodded, taking the jerky from her and using his new pocket tool to slice thin pieces off the end which he handed to her as he talked. "It was supposed to be a scouting expedition. The Chinese were monitoring airspace over Nepal and the back roads were closed to vehicles because of the snow. There were three teams made up of Augments from Persia, Turkey and South Africa. We'd lost touch with the Augment facilities in Tibet and we suspected a cleansing by the Chinese government. This was after the human governments had put a stop to their individual breeding programs, but before they united to declare genocide on my people. We needed eyes on those facilities but we couldn't just roll in with full forces because we didn't yet know where we stood, and to be honest we weren't that organized. Our leaders were still hopeful for a peaceful resolution."

The way Khan laughed coldly at the idea, Beth guessed it was a hope that had cost him dearly.

"I was young; sixteen, I think, but more than ready. I crossed with the Persians instead of the Turks because they needed the numbers. We were headed to Ngari in the north, and the other teams went to the facilities in Shigatse and Lhasa, further south.

It was dumb luck for my team. The Chinese government had already wiped out the two southern compounds but they were just starting when we arrived in Ngari. We were supposed to just observe and report, but when we saw what was happening we couldn't let that kind of mass murder go unanswered. I thought we were on a suicide mission, but the humans weren't used to Augments fighting back. There were only twelve of us against hundreds of ground troops and a whole fleet of helicopters, but they didn't know what we were capable of. _We_ didn't know what we were capable of. We were much deadlier than anyone had imagined."

Beth stared as Khan smiled with pride and unconsciously ran his finger along the sharp steel edge of the blade.

"We saved over fifty Augment lives that day, most of them my age or younger, and we marched those who wanted to join us back across the Himalayas. It was called the Battle of Beginnings because it brought the fighting out in the open, and once the Augments started to really defend themselves, it seemed like nothing would ever hurt us again."

Khan's smile was triumphant, but it slowly turned sad before Beth's eyes. She knew something _had_ hurt them. She did not know much about the Eugenic Wars because it had been almost erased from human history, but she knew the Augments had lost, and Khan and his crew had been imprisoned in cryotubes for three hundred years. Something had definitely hurt them, something had hurt Khan.

Beth shoved the last bit of jerky in her mouth and swallowed it whole. She got up and went to stand in front of him, taking the tool from him carefully and folding the knife away. She threw it on the rock and waited for him to look up at her face. When he did she could see his eyes were shining with tears. It broke her heart to see him so sad, to know he was human in some of the most miserable ways. She touched his cheek with cool fingers, seeing that small amount of contact reassure him and weaken him at the same time.

"Beth," he said, and he took a deep, steadying breath. She brushed his hair back and kissed his forehead and wrapped her arms around the back of his neck. She held him against her chest, letting him feel how loved he was. Khan circled his arms around her waist and pulled her close.

She rocked him slowly, stroking his thick dark hair as he turned his face into her warmth. He had lost so many people. She knew she had to tell him what Spock had said about his crew still being alive - she knew she should tell him then - but she also felt a jealous possessiveness of their small amount of time together. She wanted it to be just the two of them for a while longer. She would tell him in the morning.

"Khan," she whispered against his hair, and he looked up immediately, his face open and tender. "What can I do?" she asked. "What can I do for you right now?"

His smile was so loving Beth's heart broke all over again to know he was also human in some of the most _wonderful_ ways. "You can finish your meal," he said, releasing her.

Beth looked down at the bland food, pulling a face, but then she suddenly grinned. She bent over Khan to reach for a small plastic packet laying just inside the flap of her satchel. She'd forgotten all about it.

"Okay, I'll finish it," she said coyly, hiding the packet from Khan as she tore a corner off with her teeth. "It's time for dessert."

She squeezed a drop of honey onto her tongue, hoping it was still good. It had probably been sitting around for at least five years since the last science expedition. She laughed, hearing the sound turn into a nervous giggle. It was _very_ good.

Khan looked up at her with amused confusion. "What…?"

"You try it," she said, and she squeezed a couple more drops onto her tongue and then leaned down to kiss him. He opened his mouth and when she pressed her tongue between his lips he tasted the honey and chuckled softly. He proceeded to suck Beth's tongue into his mouth, licking all of the sweetness off with his own.

She did it a second time, sharing a few more drops with him, their tongues twisting around each other, fighting for the honey. When it was gone Beth pulled back again, loving the smile on Khan's face, and the way he licked his lips. She wanted so badly to make him happy.

"Do you want some more?" she asked. His smile widened and Beth undid the blanket wrapped around her, letting it drop to the ground.

Khan's eyes narrowed keenly as he realized what Beth was doing. He stared as she let a few drops of honey fall on her right breast, the amber-colored liquid sliding slowly down over her nipple. He leaned forward but Beth put two fingers over his lips to stop him. She left them there as she dripped honey on her left breast as well.

His eyes moved from one to the other and when she finally removed her fingers to release him he seemed torn for a few seconds, trying to decide which breast to favor first. He went to the right, giving it a long, slow lick, following the trail of honey up and over her nipple.

Beth gasped at the sensation and Khan's hands took her waist and held her still, as if she might change her mind, as if any woman could leave in the middle of receiving such gentle, erotic attentions.

Khan licked over the other nipple, scooping up the liquid. Rather than swallow the honey, he seemed to hold it in his mouth and rub it against her nipples with his tongue as he sucked on them tenderly. The viscous liquid created an exquisite sensation against Beth sensitive skin and she moaned loudly, her fingers coiling in Khan's hair, holding him against her breasts.

After several more minutes he finished with light, lingering kisses on both nipples and looked back up at Beth, eager for more.

"That's enough for now," she said, her stomach full of butterflies again. Khan frowned slightly in confusion, his brow creasing. But then Beth knelt in front of him on her blanket and his face cleared, his eyes widening as she removed the blanket from his lap.

She had seen it so many times that afternoon, but it never stopped amazing Beth how long and straight and perfect his penis was. It stood straight up in front of her and she fought the urge to just wrap her hand around it.

Instead she drizzled honey over the swollen head, watching it drip down the sides and underneath.

"That's enough," Khan said, either keen for her to start, or wanting to save some of the honey for later. She handed him the packet and he leaned back, already breathing hard, his face tense with concentration.

He looked like he could cum just from watching her figure out the best way to start licking the honey off him. Beth tilted her head left and then right, opening her mouth a little wider each time, her wet, pink tongue hesitating against her teeth as she stared. Then her eyes flickered up to his and he gave her a reassuring nod and she leaned forward to slowly lick the underside of his arousal all the way from the base to the tip.

"Ohh, yes." He exhaled quickly as the muscles in his thighs and stomach all contracted at once.

Beth smiled that she was able to give him so much pleasure – this man who had already done so much in his lifetime – fought so hard for his people and risen so high and fallen so far and then torn half of Starfleet apart in his search for justice.

She leaned in again and her hair fell in front of her face. Khan quickly scooped it up in his right hand, keeping it from blocking his view. He held it against the back of Beth's head and she felt him fighting the urge to guide her mouth down onto his penis.

But she took the direction and Khan groaned loudly, his hips thrusting almost imperceptibly forwards as she put her mouth over his manhood and slowly took him as deep as she could. "That's good," he praised, trying to hold his breath. "You feel so good."

Beth moaned at his words, and the vibrations around his cock caused him to thrust forward again. She pulled back and started a slow rhythm, sucking and moaning, licking at the honey, letting it mix with her saliva and his salty pre-cum to lubricate his shaft.

Khan watched her through hooded eyes, his hand getting less careful on the back of her head as his fingers twisted themselves in her hair, setting the rhythm for her.

"You feel so good," he kept saying, all precision gone from his deep voice. "So good."

And then the muscles in his thighs clenched again. His breathing got faster and heavier. Beth could tell he was getting close, trying to hold off as long as possible. She looked up at his face, wrapping her right hand around the base of his shaft, stroking it in time with her mouth.

Khan gasped. "Yes, keep… keep doing that."

He stared at her, his mouth open as his breath rasped out of him, his hair hanging down in front of one eye. He was so beautiful, so powerful and Beth loved the idea of him being in her mouth, spilling his seed down her throat. She moaned again loudly, swallowing hard in anticipation.

Khan's hips jerked in reaction. "I'm… getting..." he stammered and Beth picked up her speed, going even faster than his hand was urging, never breaking eye contact with him. "I'm…" And then she felt him swell even more in her mouth and he shouted as he came hard, his whole body shuddering. His hand held her partway down his member as it spasmed in her mouth, releasing wave after wave of thick, salty cum onto her tongue.

Beth concentrated on swallowing as much as possible and Khan groaned loudly, breathing fast through his clenched teeth. When he was done his eyes were half closed but completely focused on her as she slowly released the pressure her lips were keeping on his shaft

"Mmm," he moaned as she lifted her mouth from his member and gently licked it clean. Beth could not tell if he was in pleasure or pain by that point. He leaned forward, his hands falling heavily onto her shoulders and he kissed the top of her head, panting into her hair.

"Good girl," he said breathlessly, kissing her again. "That was..."

Beth put her hands over his and laughed. "Better than a protein shake."

He laughed as well and straightened up, hooking his hands under her arms, pulling her up and onto the bed. "Let's rest a minute," he said and he lay down on his side, pulling Beth down to lay in front of him, spooning his warmth around her. Beth reached for a blanket to cover them both as he wrapped an arm around her, cupping her breast from behind. By the time she'd draped the blanket over their naked bodies she could tell from Khan's deep and regular breathing that he was already fast asleep.

* * *

**Ah, this is so much fun to write but I hope I'm not setting the women's movement back too far with Beth having such submissive fantasies! I threw in a bunch more conversation this time - I think that makes it more interesting than them just going at it "hammer and tong" so to speak :) Let me know what you think!**

**Thanks, TheJewellersHand, for suggesting the waterfall/spring in the cave. I think they (especially Khan) needed to cool down a bit in this chapter :)**

**I think this makes three, so two more to go! Thanks all for reading!**


	7. Coupling and Conversation - Pt 4

**Caution: adult content**

* * *

**Coupling and Conversation - Part 4**

Khan awoke slowly, completely disoriented. He hadn't slept so deeply in years, and in his darkest depths there'd been a nightmare waiting for him. He was back in Ward Seventeen. Beth was missing from their room. He knew Dr. Neel was hurting her again, making other men hurt her, and Khan had beat and beat on the door, screaming her name, unable to break the glass. The worst part of the nightmare had been his belief, however temporary, that their escape and the shuttle and the cave on Centula had been the actual dream.

Slowly returning to his conscious self, Khan took deep, shaking breaths and tried to separate himself from the fear and fury of his nightmare. As he climbed out of the darkness he was suddenly aware of the most blissful warmth stretched along the whole length of his body.

Beth was not missing. She was not a dream. She was laying in front him, still asleep, her head resting on his left bicep. Both of her hands were wrapped around his forearm and Khan felt an ache deep in his chest to see her so peaceful, to know that she was safe.

His right arm was around her waist, drawing her tight against him. It was a wonder she could breathe, let alone sleep, and he slowly relaxed his hold. She stirred at the change, pushing her back against him, murmuring softly.

Beth's eyes fluttered open, and Khan could see the tangles in her long eyelashes as she blinked and looked around. He knew she was looking for him.

"I love you," he whispered, unable to resist, and was rewarded with a sleepy smile as she turned her head to him. He didn't think there was an emotion that he wasn't feeling in that moment, and they all combined to create a sense of hope unlike anything he'd experienced since he was a child.

"Love you," Beth mouthed in reply, her voice still waking up. She rolled onto her back and Khan carefully pulled his arm from under her head. He leaned over her to replace it with a blanket and she turned her face up to him. It was impossible not to kiss her. Her lips were soft and pliant and Khan touched his fingers to the side of her face.

For that brief moment he did not feel tempted to press his tongue into her mouth or slide his hand back under the blanket that covered her nakedness. Khan just wanted to be with Beth - to enjoy being drowsy and warm beside her. It was almost a relief to know he could feel such loving affection for her without the heat of sexual desire pushing down on him. He burrowed into her hair, inhaling her deeply, listening to her breathe. He could stay like this forever.

But then she moved. She yawned and stretched, her legs rubbing against his, her hip pressing against his groin. Her arms reached over her head and as she arched her back the blanket rode down her chest, revealing the tops of her pink areolae.

Khan covered them quickly, but it was too late. His body was already responding, his mouth already watering, his mind already filling with thoughts of taking a nipple between his lips and biting his teeth on it gently as he flicked his tongue…

"Khan?"

He blinked, looking down at Beth's face, full of curiosity. "Where did you go just now?" she asked, stroking her hand up his jaw, her fingers scratching over his stubble.

He smiled as well, leaning his face into her palm. "Nowhere," he said, trying to ignore his growing erection as it pressed willfully against her side.

But a second later Beth noticed it as well and her smile took on a different hue. Watching his face, she hooked her feet around the blanket and slowly tugged it down her body. His eyes followed it as it inched over her perfectly pale breasts, down the smooth plane of skin between her ribs and finally her stomach. At the first sight of her pubic hair he could wait no longer. His hand slid under the blanket, cupping Beth's vulva, squeezing her sex gently in his large hand. He groaned at its warmth, at the wetness that was just starting to collect at her opening as his long middle finger pressed between her outer lips.

Beth gave a small sigh and Khan turned his face to hers. He kissed her deeply, loving the way she opened her mouth to him, the way her tongue knew to wait for his invitation. She spread her legs a little and he stroked her lovingly and knowingly, never pulling out of the kiss, breathing her breaths, swallowing her mewling pleasure. Her right hand circled around his cock but as usual she was too distracted to move it along his shaft. It made him smile - he didn't mind - he enjoyed the feel of her soft, warm hand just holding him.

When she started to get close to orgasm he could sense the change in her, and could feel her body asking for the things it wanted. Her leg hooked around his, her left hand gripped his shoulder, and together they tried in vain to pull him on top of her. Finally she broke out of the kiss, her lips dark and swollen as she ran her tongue over them. Khan licked them as well, his tongue caressing hers.

"Please fuck me," she said softly, her voice already on the brink, "I want you inside me."

His arousal heard her words and throbbed its reply. He groaned, wanting nothing more than to bury himself inside her again, but he suspected another orgasm would knock him out cold and he wanted to spend as much time awake with Beth as possible.

Instead, he nuzzled her back into the kiss, rolling against her so she could feel the weight of him as he pushed two fingers deep inside her. Her gasp sucked the air out of his lungs and in just a few minutes she was filling them again with panting pleasure as she climaxed quietly and intimately with her arms and legs wrapped tight around him.

* * *

Beth clung to Khan for a long time as the last vestiges of her climax pulsed through her. Eventually she felt herself slowly melting back into the blankets but his body stayed tightly coiled against her.

"Thank you," she breathed, untangling herself and stroking her hands down the back of his neck and shoulders. He lifted his head to look at her with deep desire in his eyes as he slowly withdrew his fingers from her sex.

"Now your turn," she purred, pushing her hands against his chest to roll him onto his back.

He laughed, but shook his head as she started to lay kisses across his broad chest. "No, not yet."

"I want to please you, too," she said in between the kisses. "I want to make you feel good." And she wanted him inside her again. She could still hear his shout of pleasure as he'd cum in her mouth. She wanted him to do it again, but this time deep in her pussy.

"Everything you do…" Khan started to say but he stopped short as Beth leaned across him to take his right hand and bring it to her mouth. His palm and fingers were still slick with her juices and Beth pushed two of his fingers between her lips. She sucked them gently and slid her tongue between them, tasting her salty sweetness and loving the sudden change in Khan's face as she performed this wanton act in front of him.

With her flavor still in her mouth she leaned over Khan and kissed him. He responded fiercely, taking her in his arms, rolling her onto her back, pressing a knee between her legs to part them. She laughed, wrapping her legs around his hips. This was what she needed. But Khan froze.

"Oh, you're good," he said after a moment, his voice hoarse but amused as he rolled off her. This time he sat up and put some distance between them like he didn't trust himself. "You're very good."

Or maybe it was her that he didn't trust. Beth wondered if he might be right as she let a hand drift down between her legs. Khan's face turned serious as he watched her lightly stroke her fingers over her sex, but he made no sound, no move towards her. "When?" she asked. She could feel his eyes all over her, but all she wanted was his heat on top of her, his hardness inside her.

"I'll take you when I'm ready Beth. When I feel like the only choice I have is being inside you or losing my mind, I'll take you."

She understood, but also felt like he was setting her a challenge.

"Do you want me to go down on you again?" he asked, licking his lips as he watched her lazily play with herself.

But she shook her head and suddenly closed her legs and sat up, feeling wicked. "I have a better idea."

She fumbled in the blankets until she found the small black flashlight she'd brought back from the research station. She held it out, offering it to Khan.

He took it, frowning, and turned the slender, plastic tube over in his hands. When he looked back at her he was almost angry. "I'm not putting this inside you," he said, sounding offended. "And I don't want you to ever use something like this. Do you understand? I'll be able to tell if you do."

Beth lowered her eyes, embarrassed by the suggestion. "It's not…" she stammered. "I mean, it's for you."

Khan's eyes widened in shock.

"No," Beth said quickly. God, why couldn't she ever just say what she meant? "I mean, I thought we could play a game."

He looked no less suspicious. "What do you mean?"

She clambered off the rock and picked up the yellow lantern. "I'll take this one, and you have that one," she began. "You count to five hundred. No, make it a thousand. What is that, around fifteen minutes?"

Khan nodded, raising an eyebrow. "You want to play hide and seek?"

Beth laughed nervously, grinning as she nodded. "Exactly."

"In here? It's not safe."

"Sure it is," Beth insisted. "I've been down every one of these tunnels. There are two ditches to watch out for, both of them in the tunnel to the right. I promise I won't hide down that one."

"But why the game?" Khan asked her, testing his flashlight.

"You worried you'll lose?" she teased and he laughed.

"You could not hide from me."

"Then it will be fun," Beth promised, and she leaned in to kiss him, letting her lips linger long enough to distract him from more objections. "Now close your eyes." She waited for him to do it and she kissed him again, slower this time. Her hand trembled with excitement as it trailed down his chest. "And count to a thousand." Her hand continued down his stomach, feeling his muscles clench as he exhaled. She kissed him one last time and felt him shiver as she whispered in his ear, "Then then come and get me."

* * *

Khan counted quickly, knowing he was not going to give her the full fifteen minutes. He hadn't kept his eyes closed either. He'd turned to watch her leave the main cavern through a small opening and almost wished he hadn't. The sight of her naked back and buttocks… her hair melting like warm honey over her shoulders… her hips swaying as she walked beside the lantern… the image was seared into his mind as he counted aloud.

"Seven-nine-six, seven-nine-seven, seven-nine-eight."

His penis was getting harder and harder the closer he got to a thousand. He thought about Beth naked and waiting for him, and his mind filled with fantasies of finding her alone and shivering in some cold, dark corner.

Khan turned off the flashlight and held the cool plastic tube in his hand, measuring its girth. He then squeezed his erection, sharing its disappointment that it was _his_ hand, and not Beth's, that was gripping it.

The flashlight was considerably narrower than his shaft, and smooth and round at the end. Khan imagined Beth working it up inside herself as she masturbated, and wondered if he had been too quick to reject the idea. He hated the thought of _anything_ else touching her there, but she had apparently developed quite a sexual appetite - if something happened to him, if he ever had to leave her for a time, would something like this help keep her out of another man's bed?

Khan released his member and turned the light back on, looking up at the crystals in the ceiling so he wouldn't have to imagine another man leaning in-between her open legs, feeling her heat and wetness, hearing her soft sighs of pleasure…

Khan leapt to his feet and began pacing around the walls like he was in a cage.

"Eight-seven-two, eight-seven-three, eight-seven-four."

The numbers came out in a deep growl and rumbled around the walls like distant thunder. He hoped she could hear it, wherever she was, and that she knew he was about to come for her.

"Nine-one-one, nine-one-two, nine-one-three."

Was she nervous? Was she excited? Was she thinking about him fucking her? Maybe touching herself as she tried to hide from him. Khan laughed. For someone so naïve about certain things, there were other times she seemed to know exactly what she was doing.

"Nine-four-six, nine-four-seven."

As the numbers got higher, Khan felt his mind become clearer, his senses sharp and focused. He could smell Beth all over the cavern, could taste honey in the corners of his mouth.

"Nine-seven-three, nine-seven-four."

That was close enough - what were a few extra seconds? He went to the same opening she'd used and hesitated, feeling every small stone and grain of gravel under his feet.

"Nine-eight-eight, nine-eight-nine."

A draft from the tunnels moved the hairs all over his body. It carried her fresh scent to him and he continued the count in his head, no longer tempted to cheat. He didn't need to anymore. He could smell exactly where she was.

_Nine-nine-two, nine-nine-three._

And she'd promised she wouldn't hide in the right-most tunnel. Khan grinned. The little liar.

_Nine-nine-seven._

He reached down and squeezed his cock again. It ached with anticipation.

_Nine-nine-eight._

He lowered his head and stared into the darkness of the tunnels.

_Nine-nine-nine._

He hoped she realized what she'd started.

_One thousand._

* * *

**Okay, so this one didn't include one of the five ways, but hopefully it builds up to the next chapter :) Thanks to all for reading, and following and faving, and special thanks to those folks who took time to leave reviews and send PMs!**

**xo**


	8. Coupling and Conversation - Pt 5

******Caution: adult content**

* * *

**Coupling and Conversation - Part 5**

Beth tried to get her breathing under control. She could feel herself starting to hyperventilate and had to cover her mouth to prevent a nervous giggle from escaping her lips.

Khan had just realized her trick. She could hear his dark laughter echoing from the right-hand tunnel where she had smeared her scent all over the walls of the cave, rubbing her body against the rocks and wiping them with wetness from between her legs. She'd known he would be drawn to the smell immediately, would scarcely try to sense her in any other way. Beth had grown up avoiding timber wolves in the forests of Alaska; she knew how to avoid being something's dinner.

She lowered herself into a pool of water a few yards inside the center tunnel. It was chest-deep and freezing cold and she clenched her teeth to stop them chattering as she held onto the side and waited. The water would cover her scent and if she was feeling brave she might even duck her head under the surface when Khan went past.

It excited Beth to think of him tracking her, even if it was just a game. That had been her main reason for suggesting hide-and-seek; she wanted to bring out the hunter in him. He was too tentative with her sometimes, and she wanted him to know he didn't have to hide any part of who he was. She understood that somewhere inside him was a predator he wanted to keep away from her. She had experienced it on the shuttle and felt it in him sometimes still – in the way he tended to hold onto her a second or two longer than necessary, the way he wanted to see her eyes when he entered her - and if she was honest with herself, nothing aroused Beth more than the idea of Khan fully sharing that side of himself with her.

A circle of light skimmed across the wall above her and she ducked her head instinctively, lowering her chin and mouth into the water. The only thing she could hear was blood rushing in her ears and the soft trickling of the stream that ran along the wall of the tunnel. But she knew Khan was close, and getting closer. Keeping her eyes open she took a slow, deep breath and lowered herself under the water. A moment later there was a flash of light that hesitated for a few seconds on the surface, reflecting and refracting in the pool. Then it swept in an arc back up the wall, and as it continued moving along the tunnel Beth raised her head again and fought the instinct to gasp for air.

She could see Khan's silhouette moving behind the flashlight. He was walking quickly, but silently, his knees bent, hunched forward in a slight crouch. He was still naked and as he turned sideways to shine the flashlight down a side tunnel Beth could clearly see the outline of his erection. It was just as she'd fantasized but she felt suddenly unnerved at the sight of him stalking her while fully aroused.

When he'd turned the corner, she pushed up on her arms and slid out of the water. She grinned, fighting the urge to laugh again as she imagined how Khan would react when she told him he had walked right past her.

She picked up the lamp she'd hidden behind a rock and quietly got to her feet. Walking on her toes and shivering and telling herself she would soon be plenty warm, she followed after Khan before the glow of his flashlight could disappear completely. She knew the path he would take: down that side tunnel and then left into a large chamber full of rock formations. It would be the perfect place for a game of cat and mouse, ending with her surrender. After all, what was the point of playing hide-and-seek if she didn't let him find her at some point?

* * *

Khan frowned as he shone the flashlight left and right. To the left he could see an opening with a cluster of tall stalagmites just inside. It would be a logical hiding place, but it was upwind of the draft blowing through the tunnel and he couldn't smell Beth at all anymore. To the right there was just more darkness and smooth walls with no place for her to conceal herself. It didn't make sense; there weren't that many directions for her to go.

He'd been fooled once in the right-most tunnel, and then in the center tunnel he'd been so sure he'd felt her energy in the air, but so far she had managed to evade him. She must be moving around, trying to stay one step ahead of him. As frustrating as that was, Khan couldn't help but be impressed. It would make it all the better when he finally caught up to her.

Then Khan heard something… barely there… something soft moving across something hard and rough. It might have been a small animal but there was weight behind the noise. He knew it was Beth's hand trailing across the wall of one of the tunnels. There was also dripping water. It was irregular and separate to the dripping in other parts of the cave, and it was getting closer. Khan tilted his head, turning it to hear even better. Beth wasn't one step ahead of him, she was one step behind, literally; she was coming up the tunnel he'd just taken.

Khan turned his flashlight off and moved quietly away from the tunnel. It took a long time for his eyes to adjust to the extreme darkness, but eventually he began to see vague shadows of dark rocks against dark walls. When Beth finally appeared in the opening of the tunnel her pale skin seemed to glow by comparison. She was soaking wet and trembling with cold or nerves. Khan immediately realized that she had submerged herself in the pool of water he'd just passed in the center tunnel. He had to suppress the bark of laughter rising up from his chest. Her mother would be proud.

The water on Beth's skin seemed to sparkle to Khan's eyes, making her even more luminescent. Her lips and nipples and the hair between her legs were very dark by contrast and Khan felt his erection throb for her as he stared.

She held the lamp in her left hand and reached out with her right, feeling her way along the walls, completely blind in the dark tunnel. Khan fought the urge to just fall on her and take her hard on the ground. It was his right, but he was enjoying her nervous fumbling too much, enjoying that he could see her and smell her and feel her energy so clearly, and she had no idea he was even there.

Keeping himself at a distance he followed Beth into the cavern on the left. When her outstretched hand closed around one of the stalagmites by the entrance it seemed to confirm something to her and she moved with more confidence, finding and stepping around a large pillar of rock. She stopped and waited with her back against it. Khan moved closer to her – so close he could just touch her if he wanted to. How could she not feel the heat and desire radiating from him? But she just stared into the darkness, right through him, her eyes wide and unblinking as Khan put his left hand on the porous rock beside her shoulder.

She smelled mouth-watering to him, like minerals and clean skin, and again with the trace of honey. He could barely stand to be so close to her without touching her, without putting his lips on her. She was already aroused again – he could smell that too – and she kept moving back and forth on her feet with nerves or excitement, or to stay warm.

Khan leaned even closer - closer than should have been possible without being detected. Her heart was racing, he could hear its echo in her breaths as she tried to keep them shallow and quiet. She licked her lips and gave a sigh and ran a hand down her waist, resting it on her hip. It was too much for him. He had to touch her. He had to have her.

He dropped the flashlight to the rocky ground and the sound was so loud it was like a bomb going off behind him. Beth jumped, gasping in fright, and turned to get away from the noise. She ran right into Khan's outstretched left arm and by the time she turned around his right arm was caging her in on the other side. She yelped, stumbling into his body, completely disoriented. She felt him with her hands and Khan enjoyed the range of emotions on her face as it slowly dawned on her that she was found, and trapped, and completely his.

She turned her lamp onto the lowest setting and held it between them. Khan swatted it out of her grasp, partly because the light hurt his eyes, but mostly because it was in his way. He reached his hand between Beth's legs and smiled at her shock as he groped her unceremoniously.

"Khan…"

She was so wet that touching her was like opening a floodgate and her juices ran freely down his fingers. She had never been more ready for him.

Keeping his hand on her sex, Khan put his other hand behind her and lifted Beth off her feet. He leaned her back against the pillar and relished her expression as she looked down at his straining manhood and realized that there would be no kissing this time, no caressing, no gently-probing fingers to ease her into things. He was going to fuck her - right now - and there was nothing she could do about it.

Lowering her down and pushing up at the same time, Khan's whole body strained to get his cock as deep inside Beth as possible. She gasped and dug her fingernails into his shoulders as he gripped her buttocks and ground her against the rock. As wet as she was, she felt incredibly swollen and tight and Khan shuddered at the intense, constricting pleasure of her pussy enveloping him.

It took several seconds before he could manage any kind of movement, and when he finally pulled his cock out it dragged agonizingly against the clasping walls of her sex.

"Ohh," Beth moaned, raising her legs to give him better access, dropping her head forward to be closer to him as he pumped slowly in and out of her, moving his hips from side to side to feel her from all angles.

She moaned again and clamped her mouth onto his neck. She sucked his skin hard, biting down as her hands pulled him closer, urging him forward.

Khan felt the pain of her teeth unlock something in him and any lingering caution disappeared. He braced his feet on the smooth ground and tilted her pelvis up and began to fuck her in earnest - harder and harder, faster and deeper - until he was pounding her mercilessly against the rock. He moved his hands to cover her tailbone, protecting it as much as he could, but he could feel himself losing control in the heat of her, in the frenzy of wanting to experience as much of her as possible. Beth cried out each time he rammed into her soft and yielding body, and Khan could hear discomfort creeping into those cries of pleasure, but still he could not hold himself back.

Even when he heard a loud crack echoing in his ears, he ignored it. Even when he knew Beth was slipping out of his hands, he just gripped her tighter and kept going. He could not see straight, could not think straight - all he knew was being inside Beth was the best feeling he had ever experienced and he didn't want it to end - he barely noticed as the pillar of rock behind her back snapped in half and they both went crashing through it.

Somehow Khan managed to turn them at the last moment so he landed hard on the ground with Beth on top of him. But he lost hold of her and his cock slipped out of her as she rolled away to the side. The separation was more painful than having rocks rain down on top of him and Khan clambered over the rubble to where she was laying on the ground.

* * *

Beth coughed as a cloud of rock dust settled around her. She looked up, blinking grit out of her eyes, and saw Khan kneeling over her. His face was full of lust and hunger in the lamp light, but there was concern in his voice when he asked her if she was hurt. She shook her head and managed a weak smile.

"No, I'm okay." She knew she sounded unsure, but it was not because of the fall or because Khan had managed to pound her through a column of solid rock. Her whole groin throbbed with an aching pleasure that bordered on painful, but as she looked down at Khan's imposing erection, all she wanted was to have him back inside her.

"Then roll over," he commanded. "Get on your knees."

Before she could comply, he put his hands on her legs and turned her onto her stomach. Beth whimpered but pushed herself up on her hands and looked back to watch Khan move forward to kneel between her legs. He took hold of her hips, raising her up to his cock, rubbing the head up and down her slit until it found what it was looking for, and pressed against her wet opening.

It was then that Beth pulled herself forward, surprising Khan and twisting herself out of his grip. He grunted his displeasure and reached for her again, but Beth crawled away from him, avoiding his hands. His eyes flickered to her face, his brows furrowing in annoyance, and he moved forward to match her, wrapping one hand around her calf to hold her in place.

Beth rolled onto her side and put her other foot on Khan's chest, keeping him at a distance. His expression was part confused, part angry, even a little hurt, but completely dangerous. He didn't advance any further - he just stared down at Beth, his eyes raking up and down her body. She knew she was playing with fire, but she gave Khan what she hoped was her best seductive smile.

"It's okay. I'll tell you if I want you to stop."

He seemed taken back, but only for a moment. And then Beth could see the conflict in his face, but again only for a moment. She knew he wanted this, possibly more than he realized, but probably not as much as her. She wanted to be overwhelmed by his desire, she wanted to feel his most basic, desperate need for her. She wanted Khan to know he could possess her completely.

He tested her carefully at first, taking hold of her foot and gently moving it off his chest. Beth pulled it out of his hand and pushed it back against him, harder this time. It was like pushing against a boulder, and when he went to move it a second time he wrapped his hand around her ankle and she found it impossible to pull it out of his grasp.

Beth tried to twist her whole body under him but Khan lunged over her, moving impossibly fast. He pushed her roughly onto her stomach and forced himself back between her legs. Before she could catch her breath he was sliding himself up her body, his cock smearing her thighs with precum and her own juices. She tried to push herself up but he put his hands on her wrists, holding her down. His groan was feverish as he felt himself at her entrance again, and Beth wriggled helplessly, drawing excited growls from him that reverberated through her whole body.

He lowered his head so it was close to hers and Beth turned her face to hide from him. He released one of her wrists to grab the hair at the base of her skull, and brought her back to him. He pressed his lips against her cheek, his breath hot on her skin, and Beth trembled and struggled against the intimacy of the gesture as Khan used his weight to penetrate her.

"I love you so much," he rasped against her ear, lifting his hips and pulling himself all the way out of her, only to push himself back in again.

He was devastatingly powerful. Beth had never truly appreciated how much until she felt like a rag doll in his hands. Khan raised himself onto his knees, pulling her pelvis up as well so he could stay inside her. He fucked her slowly as she continued to struggle, putting her hands over his, scratching at his fingers, trying to pry them off her hips.

He responded by gripping her even harder, and as Beth twisted against him he moaned with undiluted pleasure and picked up his pace, thrusting relentlessly inside her, going deeper than he ever had before, pushing up against her cervix.

It both thrilled and frightened Beth to feel so weak. She had never been more aroused and she could feel an immense, explosive orgasm building up in her core. She wanted Khan to cum as well - she didn't know how much more of this she could take. She squeezed herself around his cock, intensifying the almost-painful way it rubbed along her sensitive skin.

* * *

Khan had never felt anything like it. He was so raw it almost hurt to move inside her, but Beth was making the most delicious panting, whining noises, and she was so hot, so wet, so unbelievably tight he didn't want to ever stop. He fell on top of her small body, crushing her against the hard ground. His right hand forced its way under her hip and found her clitoris. He pressed his fingers to it and humped her savagely, loving how soft and swollen and excited she was.

"Khan," she moaned.

Her hands scrabbled on the hard ground as she moved against him, but now it was to reach for her own pleasure. He could feel she was already in the beginnings of her orgasm. He couldn't believe how turned on she was by his roughness, how perfect she was for him in every conceivable way.

"Cum for me," he ordered her, kissing and licking the back of her neck, tasting the salt in her skin. "Now, Beth."

His own orgasm was starting and Khan struggled to hold it off. For a perfect moment she filled up all of his senses, overwhelming him with pleasure and love and something else even more primal and powerful than that.

Then she cried out and went completely taught beneath him and Khan let himself go, feeling a tidal wave of agonizing ecstasy wash over him as her sex pulsed and contracted wildly around his shaft.

He struggled to breathe, to maintain some shred of sanity as he gripped Beth hard, curling his whole body against her and pumping her full of his seed. He wanted to merge with her completely and as the pleasure of his orgasm ebbed away, that feeling remained. He didn't want to ever break the connection he felt to her in that moment.

Without pulling out of her, Khan wrapped his arms around Beth and rolled with her onto his side. He held onto her fiercely like she might try to leave him, or some unseen force would try to steal her away.

"I love you," he told her urgently, suddenly desperate to say the words and make her believe them. He wanted to hear them back as well and he waited, feeling a sick panic rise in his stomach as she lay silent and still in his arms. Had he gone too far? Was she too angry or offended or scared to answer?

"Beth?"

Reluctantly he pulled out of her warmth and relaxed his grip on her torso. He rolled her onto her back, not liking how limp she felt against him.

"Beth?"

Her eyes were closed but she was breathing steadily. Khan put his fingers to her neck, trying to calm himself so he didn't hurt her as he took her pulse. It was regular and strong. He ran his hands over her ribs and arms, checking for broken bones, and then pressed his fingers into the soft flesh of her abdomen, trying to detect internal bleeding. He looked down at his penis to make sure there was no trace of her blood on him. No, he would have smelled that instantly. There was light bruising on her hips and arms from his fingers digging into her, but she seemed otherwise uninjured.

She must have fainted, and Khan tried to feel relieved. He decided to let her rest. He stood and retrieved her lamp, and held it between his teeth as he bent down to carefully pick Beth up off the ground. She suddenly felt incredibly fragile in his arms. He glanced around the cavern, at the rubble surrounding them and was furious with himself. He could have killed her, they could have lost the babies. How could he have been so stupid and uncontrolled with someone so valuable to him?

But even as he chastised himself Khan remembered how good and right and perfect it had felt just a few minutes earlier. He knew this experience would bond them in a new way, and that was _not_ something he took lightly. Looking down at Beth's peaceful face, Khan realized his heart was pounding and his arms were shaking. He had never let himself need or depend on anyone so much... he had never felt so weak and vulnerable... so human... and he had never minded less.

* * *

**Sorry this one took longer than usual, but I hope it was worth the wait and you enjoyed this coupling (almost no conversation at all - they barely said ten words to each other!).**** I count this as just one "way" - so one more chapter to go in this set :)** Thanks for the reviews, and for all the new folks faving and following along on this adventure. Thanks to TheJewellersHand, **CLTex** and Loretta Lolita for your suggestions that went into this one!


	9. Coupling & Conversation - Last Part

**Caution: adult content**

* * *

**Coupling and Conversation – Last Part**

The waterfall washed away layers of dirt and sweat, but no matter how long Khan stood under the cold spray, it did nothing to clear his head. He kept remembering the way Beth had struggled beneath him. She had felt so weak and fragile in his hands. It had been so easy to control her and take what he wanted, and exercising that power over her had given him indescribable pleasure.

He was grateful to her for trusting him enough to be so vulnerable, but at the time he could feel his mind slipping to even darker depths – entertaining fantasies that surprised and disturbed him - and wondering how far she would be willing to follow.

As he ran his hands over his wet body Khan watched Beth sleeping on the shelf of rock across the cavern. She'd kicked the blankets off again and he could see her beautiful curves backlit by the lamp.

It had been almost two hours since she'd fainted. He had lain with her at first, expecting to pass out the instant he had his arms around her, but he was too overwhelmed by emotion to feel even a little tired. Instead he had watched her sleep - studied and memorized her face and neck and shoulders – anything that wasn't covered by the blankets. He'd tried, and failed, not to touch her, and then he'd tried, and failed, to keep his hands above the covers. As he'd felt his arousal begin to swell again he'd forced himself to get up and leave her alone so she could rest.

Though she was resting, Beth was _not_ peaceful. Khan could see her head turning from side to side, and her hands balling into fists. Her brow was furrowed, her lips moving in her sleep. He stepped out from under the water and went to look down at her. Her face was flushed and she was sweating. Careful not to drip water onto her, Khan touched her cheeks and forehead. She felt very warm, but he also knew his skin was cold from the waterfall.

"Beth?" he said gently, and he was about to nudge her awake when one of her fists lashed out, and he dodged it just in time to avoid being punched in the mouth.

"Don't touch me!" she shouted, and Khan jumped back a few feet.

She was still fast asleep, but the outburst shook him. Was she dreaming about him, about the way he'd overpowered her? His eyes were drawn to the darkening bruises on her hips and arms and he felt sick at the thought, but also betrayed. He had trusted her, and believed she'd wanted it as much as him. If she'd told him to stop at any moment, he would have, immediately, no matter how impossible it might have seemed.

"No, please," she begged suddenly, and Khan had never heard anything so pitiful. A moment later she went completely still.

He approached again, and noticed that his erection had gone down. At least he was not so depraved that she aroused him in her distressed state.

"Beth," he said, about to touch her arm when he realized that being woken from a traumatic dream by a naked man – even a man she supposedly loved – might be the worst possible thing for her at that moment.

He reached for a blanket and wrapped it around his waist, tucking in the end to hold it in place.

"Beth," he repeated, putting his hands firmly on her shoulders but shaking her as gently as he could.

Her eyes flew open with a gasp, and as they focused on him Khan waited for them to fill with fear or revulsion or hatred, but they merely blinked at him, as if she was also waiting.

"You fainted," he began to say, and her arms were suddenly around his neck, pulling him down into a powerful hug. Caught by surprise, Khan almost tumbled on top of her, but he steadied himself and lifted her off the bed. Settling her in his lap, he held her close. She felt amazingly warm, but her whole body shivered and trembled.

"Beth, what is it?" he asked. At least she did not hate him. She was not afraid of him. He could cope with anything but that.

She didn't answer, she just buried her face under one of her arms and he could feel her hot tears on his chest.

"Beth, tell me," he said. "I know you had a dream, you were talking in your sleep."

She froze. "What did I say?"

"Just a few words. I think you were trying to stop someone from hurting you."

She looked up at him and nodded.

Khan wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Was it Dr. Neel?" he asked, remembering his own dream and feeling the skin tighten at the back of his neck.

Beth shook her head. "No."

"Was it Schultz? Spock?"

She shook her head again. "It was you." But before Khan could recoil, she added, "You were leaving me."

He laughed with relief. "You know you don't have to worry about that."

But she was not amused. Her eyes were shrouded as they flitted between both of his, searching for something. Whatever it was he wanted her to have it.

"I love you," he assured her. "Besides, where would I go?" He gave her a gentle squeeze and kissed the side of her head. "Everything I have, everything I want, is right here."

She turned away, and Khan got the distinct impression she was holding something back. "What else?"

She took a deep breath, looking around the cave. "What time do you think it is?"

"What time?"

"The nights last about eight hours on Centula. Do you think it's morning yet?"

"No, not for a few more hours." Khan didn't understand. "What does that have to do with anything?"

But it meant something to Beth, because when she turned back to him the shadow was almost gone from her eyes. "Then you're still mine," she said, giving him a smile that seemed unnecessarily brave.

"Of course." Did she imagine there was a time limit on his devotion? "You're not making sense."

* * *

Beth tried to shrug off Khan's confusion. "I'm sorry. I think a rock hit me on the head." She saw his concern and immediately back-peddled. "No, that was a joke." But she didn't feel like laughing. She had sworn to herself that she would tell him about his crew in the morning, which was now just a few short hours away. Suddenly those few hours seemed like the most important thing in the world.

"I want to make love again, Khan."

He continued to look at her with concern. "Beth, you're exhausted. You've already passed out once and you might be running a fever." He pressed his lips to her forehead and held them there for a long moment. "You're very warm."

"Who wouldn't be warm after what we just did?" she asked, and Khan did allow himself to smile at that. He reached for the canteen sitting on the rocks and handed it to her.

"Here, I filled this. Have a drink, and something to eat, and then we'll get you cleaned up, and then we'll see."

Beth just wanted to wrap her legs around Khan and fix herself to him in such a way that he could never put her down, but instead she leaned back and accepted the canteen and his need to take care of her in that moment. For the next several minutes he fed her the second bag of cereal, mixing it with the rest of the honey and offering it to her with his fingers. She traded kisses for the food until finally the bag was empty and Khan was looking at her with a kind of hunger of his own.

"Alright," he said after a particularly lingering kiss. He began to slide her off his lap. "Go and cool down." He handed her the lamp and Beth went over to the waterfall, trying to walk in a straight line despite the lingering ache in her groin and thighs.

She knew he was watching her and she tried to look alluring as she stood under the water, arching her back and moving her hands slowly over her skin and through her hair. She ran them down her hips and felt the bruises before she saw them. They were spaced further apart than her fingers, but she lay her hands over them, remembering the way Khan had gripped her. She didn't remember it hurting at the time – all she'd felt was his determination to keep her as close to him as possible.

Suddenly, he was behind her again, and he slid his hands under hers, his fingers fitting perfectly along the line of purple bruises.

"I'm sorry about these," he said, but he didn't sound sorry and Beth didn't want him to be.

"I know what it means to be with you," she said simply, taking his hands and pulling them around her waist. "And I love how strong you are." She turned in his arms so she faced him, and pulled him into a kiss, but then couldn't help laughing. "But no more breaking rocks until after the babies are born."

He gave her a small smile, and bent forward to kiss under her ear. It made her shiver, despite already being cold in the waterfall.

"Can you imagine it, Khan?" she asked, running her fingers through his thick, wet hair as he nuzzled against her neck. "You and me and a couple of little ones?"

He pulled back and seemed somehow happy and worried at the same time. "Yes."

As he looked into her eyes his right hand dropped below her waist and Beth tensed, turning away from him. "Wait, I haven't finished showering." She could still feel her slipperiness from their last encounter, and she thought his sperm might still be leaking out of her. He had wanted her to clean up and she didn't want him to be repulsed.

But he didn't seem to care. His breath caressed her ear as his hand slid the rest of the way between her legs. "I know. Let me help."

He cupped his fingers, letting water gather against her. Beth gasped. It was freezing cold, but also soothing against her inflamed sex.

"Does it hurt?" he asked, pressing his hand against her so the water pushed inside her before running down her thighs.

"It's a bit sore," she admitted, "But that feels good."

He did it a few more times and stood closer to her so she felt his erection against her back. It no longer seemed to shock her or make her nervous. She leaned herself against it, feeling its nudge as Khan kissed her neck and tentatively pressed a cool finger against her swollen opening. "Beth, I want to ask you something."

She nodded slowly as he toyed with her tender flesh. "Uh huh."

"Would you let me tie you up?" He ran his hands over her wrists, pulling them gently behind her. He held them together with one hand while his other hand slid back to cover her mound. "Tie your arms like this, and also your ankles, with your legs open?"

Beth froze, feeling Khan's command and desire as he pulled her body against his.

He sensed her hesitation. "It's alright, I'll go slowly," he promised, his voice deep and irresistible. "I won't hurt you. I won't even penetrate you if you tell me not to. I just want…" Maybe he couldn't admit what he wanted, because instead of finishing the sentence, he nibbled Beth's ear and pressed his finger all the way inside her.

She swallowed hard, feeling her body respond and a dark thrill pass through her as she imagined being completely at Khan's mercy. But then she remembered all the times she'd been tied up in real life - at the medical outpost and on the medevac shuttle - and how desperate she had felt, how frightened she'd been. Beth tried to pull her wrists out of Khan's hand, but her muscles were already spent from struggling against him in their last encounter.

He hesitated, unsure how to react to her weak resistance. "I can't," she finally told him, trying to keep the fear out of her voice, because it was fear meant for someone else. "Please stop."

He released her instantly, and withdrew his finger so quickly it almost hurt.

"I'm sorry," she said, turning to face him, expecting him to be disappointed. Instead, he wore the same look of concern as before. "I know you wouldn't hurt me, but the things Dr. Neel did to me…" Her voice trailed off as Khan's concern transformed into horror.

"Of course!" He took a step back, shaking his head. "I don't know what's wrong with me." He seemed truly ashamed and when Beth reached out to him he took another step back.

"I know," she said, and tried to smile. "It's the same with me."

He looked doubtful, but at least he was listening. She stepped forward and he let her take one of his hands.

"I think we're both caught up in the fantasy of each other, and the fantasy of where we are," she explained. "I mean, chasing each other around this cave, wrestling in a pile of broken rocks, licking honey off each other, you going down on me for hours, me masturbating while you growl threats in my ear, sucking your cock under a waterfall…"

His fingers tightened around hers as she listed everything they'd done.

"It's all been so exciting," she said. "And I wouldn't trade any of it, not a single minute, but it's also a bit… unreal. I'm not saying we can't still share some of our fantasies, because, well, honestly, you _are_ my fantasy. I just don't want that to be all we have. I love you, and I'm going to have your children. I want to be your partner. I want there to be something real between us that we can build on."

Khan nodded, seeming to understand. "What can I do?" he asked.

"Just be with me," Beth said, stepping even closer and putting her arms around his neck. "I want us to just kiss and come together and, I don't know… see what happens."

He stroked her cheek and for a moment she thought she saw relief in his face. "I want that too."

* * *

They sat on the blankets across from each other, both of them naked, their legs crossed, knees touching. Khan ran his hands down Beth's damp hair and soft neck as he looked into her eyes. She held his gaze, though sometimes her eyes would dip lower to skim over his chest and down to his erection, and sometimes his eyes would drift along behind his hands as they explored her shoulders and upper arms and breasts. But their eyes always came back to each other, and when they did, the energy was palpable between them.

Without saying a word, Beth was laying her soul bare before him, and Khan felt all of his own walls coming down. As he caressed her, she reached out to mirror his actions, stroking him, molding her fingers to every muscle and sinew in his arms and chest.

He leaned forward and she matched him, closing her eyes, tilting her head, but Khan did not kiss her right away. He let the anticipation build, his mouth an inch from hers, breathing her breaths, feeling the warmth radiating from her. After a while she opened her eyes again and the naked intensity of her love and desire was so powerful Khan felt his heart and arousal both swell in response. When he finally kissed her, barely touching his lips to hers, his stomach flipped with inexplicable nerves.

"Come here," he said, taking her hands and helping her climb onto his lap. His legs were still crossed and she settled on his thighs, her legs stretched out behind him. His erection pressed against her sex and the wet heat radiating from her was almost too much. "Don't take me inside you yet," he said. Being so close and intimate with her, with no game or contrivance between them was far more intense than he could have imagined.

"Then what should I do?" she asked unsurely, looking down between them as she absently stroked the hair at the back of his neck.

Khan smiled at her apprehension. "Just relax and take your time and don't worry about your orgasm, or mine. Let's just enjoy being together."

She nodded and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths. Khan kept his hands on her thighs and slowly felt her relax. He tried to relax as well, with less success.

He had always felt a uniquely pleasurable, sexual energy emanating from Beth, which intensified during their lovemaking. He'd previously attributed it to her modified pheromones, but as she opened her eyes and looked down at him, Khan felt she was somehow amplifying that energy to an even higher level by focusing on him so intently.

He suddenly thought of an older Augment woman he'd met in his early twenties, when he was training unit commanders in Jaipur, in India. This woman had tried to teach Khan the Kamasutra and joys of tantric sex, but while the different positions had been fun to try, the spiritual and emotional aspects of tantra had always eluded him. She had talked of learning to channel sexual energy and Khan guessed that was something Beth was doing naturally, somehow without even trying. Or perhaps he was just more receptive to it as he tried to calm himself and open up to her. Either way, it was powerfully seductive, and Khan wondered if this was how other men usually perceived her.

"You're so tense," she told him, running her hands down his neck, trying to knead and loosen his muscles with her weak fingers. She leaned in to initiate another kiss and Khan attempted to relax and channel his own energy up and through his body, breathing it into her mouth. Perhaps it worked because she suddenly pressed her body against his, moaning from deep in her chest.

She was breathing faster – almost panting - and as she began rubbing herself against him Khan put his hands on her waist, slowing her down. "Try to control your breaths," he told her. "Nice and slow." That was another aspect of tantric sex he remembered from that time in India, but right now he was having trouble breathing with _any_ kind of regularity, let alone making his own breaths slow and controlled.

He leaned Beth back, his hands supporting her behind her shoulders, and kissed his way slowly down her neck and chest. He found it easier to manage his own arousal by focusing on hers, and he took his time kissing all over her breasts, licking, biting and sucking on her nipples.

"Mmm, Khan," she sighed, pulling his hair to guide him back up to her mouth. She nibbled his lips. "How long do you want me to wait?"

"Whenever you're ready," he started to say, and Beth immediately reached down between their bodies, taking hold of his penis and guiding it towards her opening.

She had to push up with one hand and both of her feet to angle her pelvis just right, and Khan watched appreciatively as she contorted herself in front of him. She was lithe and flexible and he imagined trying some of the more exotic Kamasutra positions with her, bending and balancing her body for maximum penetration and pleasure.

"Oh," she moaned, bringing him back to the present. Her brow was furrowed as she began to slide herself down onto his erection.

"Just relax," he soothed, feeling how incredibly hot and tight she was around him and knowing that no matter how wet she was she must be feeling some discomfort, especially after the roughness of last time. "We can wait…"

"Shh," she silenced him, biting her bottom lip in concentration. When he was all the way inside her she leaned forward, wrapping her legs around his hips and her arms around his shoulders, taking deep, gulping breaths close to his ear. "God, you're so big," she whispered.

Khan circled his arms around her, holding her and rubbing her back. "Good girl," he said, his voice faltering every time she took a breath or moved in any way. "You feel…" But there were no words to describe how she felt to him. She was more than hot, more than wet and tight, more than any description of physical pleasure. "Please look at me."

She pulled back a little, straightening her back, her face a bit higher than his. Her hair was hanging in front of her face and as she rolled her head to the side, her eyes found him, and Khan almost lost control.

"Slow breaths," Beth murmured, closing her eyes for a moment, maybe understanding her effect on him better than he guessed.

Khan took a deep breath, trying to relax the muscles in his stomach, trying to channel his own energy up and away from his groin. He wished he'd paid more attention to that woman in Jaipur and wondered how Beth was able to do it so naturally. Her energy was flowing into him through every pore. He didn't know how long he would last, he just knew he wanted to feel everything that she was, everything she had to give him.

"Kiss me," he said, running his hands down her back and squeezing her buttocks, kneading the soft globes of flesh. "And rock yourself slowly."

* * *

Beth opened her eyes and kissed Khan and it ached to have something so simple be so perfectly beautiful. She rocked against him like he said, and the stimulation she felt from just that small, deep movement was almost magical. She could sense the precarious control Khan held over his own body; he was struggling to find a balance between pleasure and desire, and Beth slowed her movements even more, putting her hands on the sides of his face to help him focus, resting her forehead against his, trying to pull him inside her mind with her eyes.

"Just love me," she said, and slowly she felt a change in him as his breathing became more even, his muscles more liquid under his skin. He smiled as he relaxed, and Beth felt her heart melt along with her body as he raised his head to kiss her again. This was real, she had to remind herself, and no matter what happened in the morning, Khan belonged to her in that moment, and it was better than any fantasy she could imagine.

* * *

**Sigh! They are so lovely together :) I have really enjoyed writing these cave scenes - I know it has been very indulgent, so thanks to all for bearing with me :) and who knew I could write so many thousands of words on just coupling and conversation! But it has been so much fun, and a nice place to visit as I work on other writing projects. I hope people have enjoyed reading them as well :)**

**Not sure I did tantra justice here, but neither of them are experts, so I think it's probably okay if I missed the mark a bit ;) This was a great idea, especially given Khan's origins - thanks TheJewellersHand for the suggestion! And thanks also to CLTex, WhitneyG, April and BigStraightCrush for your other requests and suggestions for these Extras, and thanks to Loretta Lolita for the original request that inspired these cave scenes!**

**Thanks to all who reviewed these Extras: April, Benedict'sZombieGirl, BigStraightCrush, CLTex, Emma, FecklessFemale, jedidah, Loretta Lolita, Mrs. Cumberbatch, rem, shippolove844, Razberri, Sinister Bunny, TheJewellersHand, WhitneyG, XxLadyVerlacxX, and all the Guests.**

**I think I will keep having new Extras from time to time, so watch this space. I am also considering other fan fictions - maybe a Spock/Khan sequel to The Anomaly? Maybe going back to my mystery roots with something Sherlocky? Not sure - if you have an opinion, please let me know! Like I said, I am in the middle of other non-fan fiction writing adventures right now, so updates will be less frequent in the future, but I have fallen in love with fan fiction and all you loyal readers, so I think there will always be something in the works :)**

**Thank you again, and happy reading!**

**xo**


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